My first breakdown

[TOPTON]

Went for a spin down to Lancaster yesterday to visit a mate. Lovely day and traffic was good on the motorway, plenty of admiring glances. (at me or the car I'm not sure )

Got into Lancaster 12ish and just as I joined the busy 2 laned one way system, the engine died. Luckily right beside the entrance to the multi storey car park. I dropped the clutch and free wheeled to a stop, not blocking the road at all.
Popped the bonnet and saw straight away the inline fuel pressure gauge reading zero. Options are fuse 10p, relay £2 or pump £100. No prizes for guessing which one it was. Of course nowhere is open on a sunday so had to stop at mates house last night, he forced me to drink loads of beer while I was there.

Bought a new pump this morning, fitted and running fine again.

Presently I am using Carol Nash Ins which has breakdown cover, it runs out on the 17 and I was going to change to a cheaper qoute that doesn't have that, don't think I will now though. The recovery guy said the usual charge is £75 + vat for callout and £3 per mile for recovery.

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

If you direct feed the pump from the battery, it will give it a bit of a kick start, so it's worth keeping some long wires in the car.

Also maybe worth getting a pre-filter as the one in the swirl pot may not be working any more, if so the new pump may not last very long.

[TOPTON]

TVRleigh_BBWR said:

If you direct feed the pump from the battery, it will give it a bit of a kick start, so it's worth keeping some long wires in the car.

Also maybe worth getting a pre-filter as the one in the swirl pot may not be working any more, if so the new pump may not last very long.

Thats what I asked the breakdown guy to do, wire his power pack direct to pump to confirm my thoughts. It gave a small kick but didn't wurrrrrr.
Was intending to get a pre filter at some point but haven't as yet. Probably will now though, as you say, the new pump may not like it.

As a side note, Carol nash want £208 with breakdown/europe cover, quite good I thought. Then I get a price from RH, £128 for the same cover. Think my mind is made up

[mrzigazaga]

Glad to hear it wasnt anything major..although the pumps arent cheap..Im still looking into a filter for mine at some point even though i had all my fuel lines cleared and a clean as a whistle tank off of dwgriffith fitted..Wedgetastic..ziga

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

Give this guy a ring.
http://www.fastroadcars.co.uk
He's a very nice guy, but I forgot his name.
you can tell him I told you to call him.
He does the Ali sytec pre-filters (you will want one with a brass mesh pre-filter) if you fit one of these, it will make you pump last much longer. (also is a must if you have an Ali swirl pot (as these don't have a pre-filter)
Also a must if your swirl pot rattles, (as this means your pre-filter has come loose)

Just tell him the fitting you want on the and he will supply what ever you need.

[E Ponym]

Had you run out of fuel recently before the pump failure?

The fuel cools and lubricates the pump bearings and lack of these can lead to the pump packing in soon after.

[TOPTON]

E Ponym said:

Had you run out of fuel recently before the pump failure?

The fuel cools and lubricates the pump bearings and lack of these can lead to the pump packing in soon after.

Nope, haven't run out of fuel for years in any vehicle. I guess after 20 years and 80k miles the pump just decided it had done enough and wanted to retire.

[Wedg1e]

The pump on my Tasmin died after something like 105,000 miles... but I suspect the huge pothole I'd just driven through played a part