Not getting fuel to carburetor!

[Dvasque2]

Hello Everyone,
I just picked up a 1968 F250 camper special from the original owner. It is my first go at a classic and I am excited about it! It is in great condition but he didnt move it for about 10 years (he says). I had it towed home and changed some of the fluids (oil, cleaned out the gas tank, coolant). I also replaced the fuel pump and the soft lines from the main (cab) gas tank to the pump and up to the carb because they were so stiff they broke off. Since there was old gas in the system, i took the carburetor off and rebuilt it (soaked in cleaning solution and replaced most of the components)
The engine starts right up when i prime the carburetor and have someone sit there squirting fuel in but im not getting fuel to the bowl from the fuel pump.
im wondering if anyone has had an issue like this in the past?? When i remove the "in" line to the pump, there is fuel in the line. I also put a hose on the "out" line of the pump and put the other in a plastic bottle. I only cranked it for about 10 seconds and no fuel went into the bottle. BUT, when i removed that same hose, there was fuel in it. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I GOT A DEFECTIVE FUEL PUMP THAT ISNT PRODUCING THE "PUSH" TO SEND FUEL UP THE LINE AND INTO THE CARB?

Thanks in advance for any help with this!!!

[71Fe2O3]

I see two possible answers. One, as you mentioned, a defective fuel pump.
The other is that there is some junk in the tank, perhaps chunks of rust, that float around in the fuel and lodge in the pick-up when the pump pulls fuel from the tank. This would allow fuel to flow out under the influence of gravity but prevent the pump from doing its job.

[sargentrs]

Get one of those glass in-line filters and install it between the fuel pump and the carb. That will let you see if you're losing fuel flow when it quits on you. If so, suspect the fuel pump or trash in the tank like 71Fe203 said.

[Dvasque2]

Thank you! I'll try and put an inline clear filter to see if I'm getting fuel in there. Then I'll peek in the tank. Thank you!

[tsherry]

1) pull your tank and flush it out. Old gas/crud can easily clog the pickup intake.
2) test your fuel pump with a quart of gasoline, plumbed directly into the pump.
3) if the fuel pump doesn't work at that point, replace it, while you're at it, replace all of your rubber fuel lines. The fuel lines are two pieces: an inner liner with a nylon net reinforcing it; and an outer jacket. Gas, after sitting for awhile (especially ethanol fuel) can degrade the inner liner and separate it from the outer layer.

When you try to start it, suction closes the inner liner, starving the fuel off.

Good luck!

[colnago]

I had water in my oil, which prevented my fuel pump from pumping. You can also check to make sure the fuel pump arm is below the eccentric; if it's above, it won't pump (I'm not sure it will even mount with the arm above the eccentric, but you can check). But check the other stuff first. My neighbor put an inline filter right before the pump, as a safeguard that junk didn't clog the pump filter. When you figure it out, let us know what you found.

Joseph

[Ranchero50]

Easiest thing to do is remove the lines to the fuel pump and blow back through the one to the tank to see if it'll flow. If so, do the same to the one to the carb. Hook the tank line back up and unhook the carb one at the carb. Now pressurize the tank with some compressed air and a rag stuffed into the fill pipe. You should get fuel flowing through the check valves in the pump and up to the carb. Hook up the carb and it should fill up after a couple revs and you'll get fuel out the squirters when you hit the throttle.

[lamogo33]

If you do pull the lines off, and you can safely reach the area of the pump, have someone crank the engine and check to see if there is a vacuum pull on the inlet side, and pressure on the outlet side of the pump. Someone has suggested that the lever might not be aligned in the engine correctly, that is 100% my issue when a new fuel pump wont pump right out the box... Although I've gotten plenty of bad parts right out the new box.

[farmallmta]

The auxiliary tank of the camper specials was equipped with a filter sock on the end of the pickup line. It's a fine fabric that easily clogs with gunk. This can give you a fuel starvation symptom that is intermittent and hugely frustrating. The sock is sort of good since it keeps crud out of the lines. However, the sock filter is a bit of a pain to change out, so I remove them and install a clear plastic wix filter ahead of the fuel tank selector valve. Also, check to make sure there is not gunk built up in the bends of the steel lines. That's another intermittent fuel starvation symptom that can drive you crazy figuring out.

[Dvasque2]

thank you to everyone that responded! i was able to find the issue (after a week or so of not working on it) and now it fires right up. Now that the engine is finally running i am able to identify other issues that came with the car sitting so long.
Just to let everyone know, in case anyone else comes across this issue, i replaced the new fuel pump with another new one to rule out the possiblity of a defective unit. After that, I started checking "sections" of the line by isolating them with a fuel line going directly into a gas can.
Turns out one of the new lines that i replaced had a hole in it so there wasn't enough vacuum for the pump to push it up to the carb!

Again thank you for all your input and advice!