Hi guys,

At the weekend , instead of driving in a orderly manner, i enjoyed a bit of speed (MPH) after heavy cornering the engine would die. i would restart and off i go. no problem for ordinary driving but i was hopeing to do a track day soon.
dont fancy going to the track day with a problem like this.
I can hear the fuel pump working, also the car wouldnt go more than 200 ft without the fuel pump switched on.


engine is a 1600 crossflow.

please advise...

fuel surge seems most likely really, but i suppose a loose connection could be to blame. Fill the tank to the top and see what happens.

I'd say fuel starvation...may wanna try and buy or fabricate a swirl pot......think thats what there called

If your going to do lots of trackdays, perhaps a good idea to get an internally baffled fuel tank and swirl pot.

Sounds like fuel starvation the baffles and swirl pot wil stop it.

The baffles will stop the fuel from slapping about inside the tank

[Edited on 5/9/11 by big-vee-twin]

We chased a similar problem for ages, it was worse for me than my brother, weird.
Eventually turned out the ignition switch was buggered, it was worse for me because I had a bunch of keys hanging down, my brother only had the one key, the extra weight swinging around made it worse

A bit more info might help as in what ignition system, what carb/carbs or even injection system are you using? If the engine starts straight away without a load of cranking with the fuel pump switched off then I would be looking for a dodgy wire or connection rather than fuel starvation

i will try and answer a few

fuel tank was 3/4 full at the time
i do have a few keys on my keyring
escort mk2 wiring loom
starts up usually straight away. 3 pumps with the right foot with fuel pump on.
weber carbs 40*2

Next time it does it try turning the pump off and starting the engine , if it starts it's unlikely to be starvation. Might be worth running a positive feed direct to the coil and road testing the car , that would eliminate the ignition switch and wiring to the coil. I once had problems with a car that would only go round left hand bends and another that would drive backwards but not forwards due to breaks in the wiring

To my mind the most likely candidate is fuel surge in the float chamber.

Tank 3/4 full... hmm could also be a bit of dross floating around in the tank, it works its way over to the pickup blocking it, the suction of the pump holding it in place until you turn the engine off, suction stops and it drops down.

Is the end of the pickup pipe cut flush, it really needs a V cutting into the end so even if something lays over the end it still can pull fuel and something cannot be held by the pump.

|...|
|...|
|...|
|/|

Pickup

[Edited on 5/9/11 by mark chandler]

Mark, the fuel pump stayed on the whole time,
it seems to happen when turning right around roundabouts (again at normal speed i do not have a problem with this.... its just i was pushing it a bit yesterday and found it happening) i thought it felt like a fuel supply problem

Which side of the tank is the pickup?
Do you have a fuel pressure regulator with built in filter?
Where do the fuel pipes run?
Do you have any non return valves in the lines?
Where is tge pump, near the tank or near the engine, electric ones prefer to push not pull.
Pumps make different noise when they run on air.

I'll agree with Mr Trident of float chamber surge. Was the problem worse on one corner than the other?
More importantly was it "bogging down" and sounded like you had it running on full choke (I realise you probably don't have a choke!) and puffs of black smoke out the exhaust??