Lancia Fuel Supply Issues - Diagnosis Pain

It has been a few weeks since my last post and I have been itching to get back to the Lancia.

We left the car in a position where it was running for a few seconds with easystart in the carburettor but the car was not getting fuel from the petrol tank.

The mechanical fuel pump was also replaced for completeness as I plan to drive this car regularly and wanted to eliminate that as an issue.

With Big Al and my uncle present we got to work on the car. It was clear that there was some kind of fuel blockage from petrol tank to engine bay and so the first thing we did was to disconnect the fuel line from the petrol tank and try and apply fuel from a temporary jerry can. As soon as we disconnected the rubber hose to the carburettor it broke off.

I have been working on the car for a while now and had previously noticed how grotty and fragile the fuel hoses looked and luckily I had already purchased some replacement hose. We then readied a suitable piece and replaced it.

Using a makeshift funnel we poured petrol directly into the carb and then tried to start the car.

The Lancia spluttered and then sprang into life idling roughly but as long we supplied petrol the engine ran.

It was a very uplifting moment as in reality I started work on this car in April 2024 and it had taken me some 12 months to get to this point having encountered multiple issues along the way.

We then moved on to confirming that the new fuel pump worked and continued to manually add petrol directly until we were satisfied that the new fuel pump worked. We could clearly see the fuel spurting out of the fuel pump so that was another possible issue eliminated.

At this point it was clear that the engine would run without issue if we could get the fuel supply active from petrol tank and so that is now my next point of focus.

An additional plus point is that having run the engine for thirty seconds a few times there were no water leaks so far from my previous work to replace the leaking water pump. Currently the engine only has water in it and once I get her running and I am sure that coolant system has no leaks I will flush the engine and then add new coolant.

I really want to get some coolant in the system as soon as possible.

At this point we reconnected the hoses back up to the fuel tank supply and our plan was to use compressed air to blow out the fuel lines. We looked under the car for connections that we could access but I could not see any at all. Looking at my trusty Haynes manual there were definitely connections from tank to the hard lines but I could not see where they were.

After much head scratching we had to give up and I reached out to my fellow owners at BetaBoyz. The very knowledgeable owners advised me that the connections I am looking for are accessible from the boot so the next time I am with the car will endeavour to unblock the fuel lines.

A big thanks to BetaBoyz members as always for the guidance.

We are getting very close now to getting the car running and this current issue is a massive roadblock.

Worst case if I cannot unblock the fuel lines will have to replace them with new ones as that is the only way to keep moving forward.

Once we get past this we have new brake discs, pads and brake fluid to be fitted and then the car should be able to move under its own steam. I also plan to change all of the consumable suspension parts as I go.

It has taken me much longer than I expected to get the engine running but we are moving forward which is still much more than I have achieved in the previous 13 years that this car has been parked up.

I think once we get past this the car will progress at a faster speed.

It is impossible to start the car and pour fuel in at the same time so a massive thank you to my partner in crime Big Al who is always lending a hand whilst risking his eye brows with the copious amounts of easystart and petrol in play.

Till next time