Hilux fuel stops when hot

[Nutfarmer]

My 1996 Hilux 2x4 petrol engine stops when when hot.

It usually fails on hot days after doing some work, normally loaded.

The usual thing is that we call the NRMA, they test that there is fuel getting coming from the fuel pump, there isn't, so they say the pump needs replacing.

After 3 new pumps we realised that that isn't the problem. We now just let it cool down and it runs fine.

My mechanic figured it was vapour lock and has re-routed the fuel lines and added lagging, but to no avail.

Today was typical, the temperature was around 25C, and after a good run I shut it down for half an hour or so, then tried to drive it up the hill. After about 30 second driving it lost all power.

It would still run, but not enough power to drive, then it stopped. I lifted the bonnet and heard a sound like boiling liquid that seemed to be coming from the region behind the carburettor.

Typically it does fail after it has had a little rest, perhaps that is when the heat builds up in the engine with no air circulation.

When it stops you can get the engine to run by feeding fuel into the carby and you can see that no fuel is coming out of the pump.

We have changed the pump three times and the fuel filters as well, nothing seems to work.

The first time we had the problem the NRMA guy put a clip-on electric fuel pump on and that got us to the garage.

Has anyone any thoughts

[CONROD]

Hi NUTFARMER,

Mate this might not be the problem but many moons ago I had a Hilux with a (Y) series donk in it ,anyway it started to cut out when it obtained operating temp. Straight away I thought fuel pump has sh*t itself but it turned out to be the little gauze filter situated just inside the inlet on top of the carby.Fair dinkum I could not believe the amount of sediment/sh*t that had got picked up and passed thru the filters and instead of going thru the carby it slowly but surely brought the circus to a holt by completely blocking this stupid little metal gauze filter,but hey it was doing its job.I guess because it is so small and who would think of looking for a filter within the carby,but its there.So many people would be unaware of it,sh*t I didnt even know it existed until I went looking for the problem,mate it might be yours or it may not anyway worth a look, Cheers CONROD

Edited September 22, 2011 by CONROD

[Nutfarmer]

Hi NUTFARMER,

anyway it started to cut out when it obtained operating temp. Straight away I thought fuel pump has sh*t itself but it turned out to be the little gauze filter situated just inside the inlet on top of the carby.I went looking for the problem,mate it might be yours or it may not anyway worth a look, Cheers CONROD

Conrod,

Thanks for the response.

Definitely it is worth looking at.

How do you access it?

Can you get it by pulling off the fuel hose or do you have to lift the top of the carby off.

Cheers Nutfarmer

[CONROD]

Mate from memory,there is a union that you undo and remove from the carby (the fuel inlet hose/pipe) connects to it and the small gauze filter is under it,sorry I cant be more specific but it was a fair while ago now,plus getting older dont help with the memory.Mate for your sake I hope this proves to be the answer to your problem.Just out of curiosity does it do it more when you have less fuel in your tank compared to say almost a full tank? The only reason I ask is if it did it when you had say a 1/4 tank well that might indicate a cracked fuel sender pick-up and because liquid is heavier than air its sucking air.Next time it does it and you havent got a full tank of fuel if it refuses to pump fuel have a jerry can with 20 litres of fuel in it and pour the contents of this in your tank and then try it again and see if fuel is pumped through.If it does I would be pulling the sender out and checking it out,

cheers CONROD

[k_san]

I think Conrods theory is definately credible - id be making sure you dont have a restriction in your fuel tank, maybe theres a bit of crap in your fuel tank that is just blocking your pick up - when you stop driving, it just settles back down to the bottom of the tank. Otherwise id also be looking in the carby for an answer. Let us know how you go!