Series 3 Landy finally on fire!

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85Santana3

85Santana3

Active Member
Posts
284
Location
Canada
Hello everybody
As the last two threads started by me shows I had problem with my mechanical fuel pump and on advice of some well meaning nitwit mechanics I had an electric pump installed.
Every since installation it ran into problems, first it was installed too high above the tank and was not sucking petrol when tank was half full, which I brought it down myself, and secondly it would cause fuse to burn since it was powered from the key which once before left me stuck in middle of nowhere.
Yesterday I opened everything and did a neat job of reinstalling it with better wiring and even added plastic dampers under the bolts and headed out of town. As soon as we got far enough not to have access to mechanics or tow trucks smoke began pouring out of my dashboard. I stopped the truck immediately and shut the engine which slowly stopped the smoke. Then I did what I had done last time and passed a direct wire from battery to the pump. 10 seconds after starting much more smoke came out of the hood and I had to stop. All the wires connecting the pump to the batter were burned and very hot.
I had to be towed back to my base wondering what the heck was wrong with this pump.
Sorry for the long winded explanation but I really would like to find out what was wrong, so I explained everything.
I include a diagram as how the damned thing was installed. I really appreciate any suggestion of help in finding why this happens.

PS. For those considering installing an electrical pump I have also found out that this is a bad idea because of uniform supply of fuel to the carb regardless of need of engine.
Thought it might help somebody later.
​
Thanks in advance
 

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Does,that look like you have a live red wire connected to the bolt fixed to the body, if so that would be a direct short and cause fuses to blow and wires to melt
 
steve2286w said:
Does,that look like you have a live red wire connected to the bolt fixed to the body, if so that would be a direct short and cause fuses to blow and wires to melt
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply Steve. I found that questionable myself too but this is how the mechanic had installed it and it worked for a day or two before problems started. That pump had only one wire going to it which I amuse is the + . It was connected to a washer which was put under the bolt that attached the pump to the body. The other bolt I assumed must be ground. It still makes no sense to me that positive be connected to body of the car and the thing working for two days.
 
windy81 said:
does a series 3 have a positive ground ?
Click to expand...
I am not sure but I really doubt that. I have done some electrical work on this car in the past with the assumption that body was the usual - ground and it had always worked. (But I do admit that electrically I am an ignoramus)
 
The diagram shows the positive being bolted to the chassis, that would give you a dead short and the problems that you have.

That's why I asked if it was positive ground, because only then it would make sense.
As it stands it seems someone has thought that you have a positive ground giving you a all the problems you're describing.
The positive feed from the dash is being overloaded.

The positive should be to the pump terminal with the negative ground on the chassis. Setup like this it should be plain sailing
 
The mechanical pump is more than up to the job, Are you having trouble getting one of sufficient quality?

Are you anywhere near Quebec - there's a guy on U tube who gets good reviews .... might be able to get you a pump made of something proper ;)

If you want to use the electric pump, then I'd be wiring it through a relay from the ignition feed - and fitting fuses everywhere you can for safety .....

Which battery lead is connected to the chassis ?
 
Have a look at terminals on battery and see where the go if -ve goes to chassis it’s negative earth
Good plan to go back to standard it’s well proven
I would test the electric one on the bench to prove how it works ok it can always be a backup
 
Windy 81 I agree completely but how do you explain it working for two three days before start of electrical problems? That is the puzzling part.
DISCO1BFG I know two reliable mech suppliers in Montreal (and one very knowledgeable mechanic in Hudson) so that is not the problem. One can even get parts online and shipped to Quebec. However as we say in Canada " I are presently ooout!"
 
Disco1BFG who is this guy? I did a search and can't find any Quebec land rover channels except for the official ones and land rover experience which is aimed at an entirely different type of people.
 
85Santana3 said:
Disco1BFG who is this guy? I did a search and can't find any Quebec land rover channels except for the official ones and land rover experience which is aimed at an entirely different type of people.
Click to expand...

Search for Britannic Restorations on g@@gles advertising platform :rolleyes::D - you'll find him ;)
 
Thank you guys for telling me about this guy. He looks like a really trustworthy mechanic.
In case you are wondering what a British landy lover is doing in dominantly french quebec, Southern quebec especially eastern townships is where a lot of loyalist settled after american revolution. If you get a chance to visit those parts do so. In early autumn it offers some of the most beautiful country roads in north america and the english speaking locals are delightfully friendly and nice.
 
A British Land Rover in French Quebec: Sacre-blu; We must all pull together and keep this machine running, its a standard bearer!
National pride is at stake, if only you had explained this first.

Re postive and negative earth, unfortunatly they can be either. Usually there's a plate on the panel by the rad sayign which it is. Normally I would say - look at the battery and see how its connetec, but given what has gone on and the confusion is it possible the battery got turned around? (This messes up loads of things, but most are recoverable)
 
rob1miles I think the body is - (no current). Today I reconnected the pump temporarily to the battery and body and at least it is drivavble to a proper mechanic to install another mechanical pump. I am done with + and - no more electricity for me.
Thanks everybody for your help.
 
I fitted an electric fuel pump to a 90 I once owned (can't remember why now), but I do remember that I switched it through a separate relay with it's own fused supply from the battery. I have found that some of the replacement mechanical fuel pumps don't last very long, always worth buying a decent one and carrying a spare!

I imagine that you have the polarity connected correctly otherwise it wouldn't work at all. I suspect the problem is that you are pulling too much current through the old ignition circuit, not enough to blow a fuse but enough for everything to get warm!
 
Bern said:
I have found that some of the replacement mechanical fuel pumps don't last very long, always worth buying a decent one and carrying a spare!
Click to expand...

+1 - My preference is for Delphi - but availability is hit and miss - Order a Delphi, and some blue box POS turns up! :mad::mad::mad: :rolleyes:

+1 for carrying spare too - rude not too ;)
 
It got more than just warm. It burned every wire connected to anything near it!
This time we powered it up from coil and added a 15 amp fuse in between with fingers crossed.

I will keep the electrical pump and install a new mechanical one. If one fails I can switch the pipes to the other one.
If both fails I will start looking for a horse and give up cars altogether :)
 
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