Jaguar went to the dual fuel tank system with the S-Type of 1963.  It then flowed into most of the subsequent models, with the exception of the XJS, until the introduction of the XJ40 in the mid 80s.

Just before Christmas, I had the tank on the passengers side removed and cleaned out.  It was pretty nasty inside, the lines were full of gunk and the screen on the pickup was all blocked.  When it was all put back together, I as advised that the fuel pump for this tank was not able to provide enough volume and it needed to be replaced.

At least on the cars with the quad carburettors like mine, they used a pair of SU AZX1400 series double ended fuel pumps.  The original pumps were points type, but the new ones are normally solid state.  Each tank has its own pump, and there are valves to make sure the return fuel goes to the correct tank.  These same pumps were also used on some Rolls Royce models too. The photo below shows the SU pump that was in my car.

They are now very expensive, at around $1,000 per pump landed in Australia.   The pump that I had been using on the good tank was a FuelFlow 2LM12 pump from New Zealand and seemed to be working well.  Given I have the redundancy of dual pumps, I decided not to spend $1,000 on a fuel pump, and went with another FuelFlow pump.  At $220 delivered, it was a huge saving. The photo below shows the existing FuelFlow pump on the left and the SU on the right.

The pump arrived the other day and I went about fitting it today.  The fuel pumps are located in in the boot, in a cavity to the rear of the spare tyre.  At least on my car, each pump was responsible for the opposite fuel tank.  That mean I would be changing the drivers side pump.

At first it all looked rather complicated, but slowly tracing all the lines had it starting to make sense.

Each tank has its own output line, and those are connected to the opposite pump.   There is one line that goes to the engine, which is on the drivers side of the car.  Therefore, there is a fuel line that goes from the left side pump, over to the right side pump, then to main fuel filter.  Only one pump runs at a time, so when the left pump is in use, the fuel flows past the right pump but not through it.

There is a single return line from the engine, that is on the passengers side.  That connects to both tanks, with a valve that determines where the fuel should go.  This is important, as if both tanks are full, its important that the return flow go back to the tank it came from.

The wiring also looks more complicated than it is.  Since the pumps are double ended, each end has separate power and ground connections.  The power feed for each pump goes to the valve, on each side.   I didn’t really examine these carefully.

The fuel lines for the FuelFlow pump were the same as the SU.  It was quite simple to get the fuel lines setup.   The power feed was a bit different.   The SU has a single power line per end, and the body of the pump acts as a ground, with an unshielded ground wire.   The FuelFlow has a plastic body, so has power and ground lines at each end. The photo below shows the new FuelFlow pump installed.

I didn’t use the unshielded ground wire, I made up a new ground harness that went into the chassis where the valves screw into the body.  The power feed was simpler to adapt.  The wiring in my car had a power feed to the inner end of each pump and then a wire that went to the outer end.   I used the same setup.

The pumps were not screwed in.  Rather they had rubber straps at each end that held them in place.  The SU pump also had a back plastic surround, that I assumed was to cut down noise.  This was missing on the existing FuelFlow pump, but I re-used it for my new one.  When I later tested the pumps, the new one was a fair bit quieter, so I’m glad I kept it.

It started to bucket down with rain as I did the job, so I didn’t end up taking the car on a test drive.  I was able to verity that the correct pump ran when I toggled the switch on the dashboard.

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As I keep a spare Bosch fuel pump and filter, I figured I should change it ASAP.   In my view, it makes little sense to change out the pump and not do the filter at the same time.   I changed the filter when I did the accumulator about four years ago, and it was very dirty.   I think my car sat for some time, so the tank is probably a bit dirty.

My 300SE is an 86 model, so it has the single pump setup.   Obviously the first thing I did was disconnect the battery before working on the pump.   This job is not difficult but hard to do without spilling fuel everywhere.   I own some fuel line clamps, but of course I forgot to use them and sprayed myself with fuel.   This was rather uncomfortable as it soaked into my socks.    Its important not use vice grips here, as they will chafe the fuel lines.   I was able to push the handle of my ratchet into the fuel line to keep the stream of fuel at bay.

I am glad that I decided to change the filter.  After four years and about 12,000km, it was filthy.  I think this is also the reason why my fuel gauge flickers at lower levels.   I suspect after sitting for a while there is debris in the fuel tank.   This filter was not as bad as last time though.   Its also not been bad enough to affect the running of the car.   In my old 1988 560SEC, I ran out of Petrol.  The didn’t run properly until I changed the filter.   Given the debris in the bottom of the 300SE tank, I shouldn’t ever let it get too low.

Fuel pump replacement is one of my least favourite jobs.   I’m glad its sorted out, but I really don’t enjoy doing this one.   I’ll probably be doing the filter again in a couple of years to see if there is still debris in there.

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As can be seen from the picture above, the new pump looks pretty much identical to the old one.   It is a relatively simple matter of moving the mounting brackets from the old pump to the new.   The photo below shows the brackets on the old pump before I transferred them.

I later learned that it is much easier if you just slip on the circular bracket without tightening it up, to locate where along the fuel pump it should sit.   I didn’t have it quite right and I had to undo it to properly locate the bracket.   These brackets are what turn the generic SU pump as used in countless British cars to the E-Type fuel pump.

While replacing the pump, I also replaced two of the rubber isolators.   The were the two for the circular bracket.   The rubber isolators stop vibrations from the pump transmitting to the car.   In the parts diagram there are supposed to be three, but the front one on my car was different – It was being used as a ground connection and there was a small rubber donut that was still in good shape.   On the other hand, the other two were in poor shape with one completely broken.

Getting to the furthest one can be a bit of a pain.    The new isolators were actually a bit easier to fit as they had hex top and bottoms to make tightening up easier.

Once the isolators were in place, I was able to locate the circular bracket, tighten it up and then mount the pump to the car.   I sanded the washers to ensure they were really clean and then its quite simple to attach the fuel hoses to the E-Type fuel pump.   While I was attaching them, I noticed some very small cracks starting to appear on the outside of the hoses.   They do not leak, but before I put all the trim back in the car, I will order some new hoses and replace them.

A few quick tests showed no leaks.   Firstly when turning on the ignition and priming the pump.   Then while starting the car and letting it idle.   Finally driving for 10 mins and pulling over to check for any fuel.   All good.

Surprising the new E-Type fuel pump has impacted the driving experience.   The car has better throttle response if you accelerate in top or third gear.   Before it felt like it was pinging, but actually the old pump might have been starving the car of fuel?   In any case the car is better and I was able to re-advance the timing a bit on the small adjustment wheel on the distributor.   The engine is still not as smooth as I would like.   I notice the motor mounts look quite flat, so this is something to look at.   It may also need a tune if the fuel pressure was off before.

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On the first drive, I noticed a bit of a fuel smell.  It seemed like it was coming from the front of the car, so I spent quite a bit of timing examining the fuel connections to each of the three carbies to see if there was any dripping.   There wasn’t.    The other night I took the car on an extended 150km drive up to Gosford via the old Pacific Highway.  On the way back, I could start to smell the fuel again.    Just in the time it took me to open up the roller door. I saw dripping from the back of the car.

Looking in the boot, it was obvious that I had a leaking SU fuel pump.   It was almost raining fuel down inside the boot.   I wonder if this started this week or if it has leaking a little bit for a while.   As I drive the car with the roof down most of the time, it is possible that I may not have noticed some minor fuel smell.

Today I went back to have more of a look and remove the fuel pump.  It is only a 15-20 minute job to remove it.    Firstly the two fuel lines are removed.   I marked them top and bottom to make re-assembly easier.   I was surprised to see two washers per fuel line.    Then, the power and ground can be disconnected.   There is a fair amount of room to get a hand into the rear wing where the fuel pump is located.

Finally, the three nuts that hold in the pump and its bracket can be removed.   While it does not seem like it, it is actually fairly easy to get a hand around behind the pump and remove the rear nut.   I made a mistake in removing the front two nuts first.   It would have been easier to remove the rear one.   The pump is mounted to the car body through rubber mounts.   One of mine was completely perished (probably accelerated by the fuel) and the other two do not look far behind.

Looking carefully, I can see some plastic or rubber debris in the outlet pipe.  Probably the remains of a perished gasket or diaphragm.     In addition, the leaking fuel has dissolved some kind of black sealing material that has been used in the body of the car.   There is black residue in the spare tyre well that I will need to clean up.

The pump leaking SU fuel pump in my car is the original points type.   Specifically it is an AUF303.   It must have been rebuilt when the car was restored.  This pump is now known as the AZX1307.    There is now a fully electric replacement available, or the rebuild kit EPK300 can be used to rebuild it.

I have not yet decided if I will rebuild the pump I have or move to the fully electronic version.    It looks like an all new pump is about 3x the cost of a rebuild kit.

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Here in Sydney it has been mostly mid 30s C and 80% humidity for the last two weeks, so I have not been particularly motivated to work on the car.   We finally got a break in that weather so I went down and had a look.

On removing the cover, I found the main leak coming from one of the two fuel pumps.   I also found the fuel hose from the filter to the hard line that supplies the engine had been poorly modified for the wrong fuel filter.  It didn’t look like it was in great condition either.

The picture above shows the replaced pump (the one furthest from the camera) and the replaced filter (above the front pump).   The hose in the foreground is the one that looked bad, it had been cut and a different hose spliced in to attach to a different type of fuel filter.     A pump and filter change on these cars is simple, but a little fiddly.    Unlike the 300SE, the fuel that came out of the filter was not dirty.

While I was able to get the pump and filter changed readily, I was not able to disconnect the fuel hose from the hard line.   The hard line is up behind the differential and drive shaft, and my 17 and 14mm spanners were too large to get up there.   I tried for a while, but not wanting to break the hard line, I decided to give up and have somebody else look at this.   Luckily there is a European mechanic 20m away from my little workshop.   I’ve never used them before, but this is a good opportunity to push the car down and see if they can get this sorted out for me.   They seem to mostly cater to BMWs, but I’ve seen a 560SL there before.    With the pump, filter and this hose changed, it should cure my 560SEC fuel leak.

In the future, I wouldn’t mind changing the hose from the tank to the fuel pumps, as it looks a bit older.   I don’t have one of these hoses to hand and the tank would need to be drained, so better to wait until its mostly empty.

Before I started this job, I noticed another issue.   I had pushed the car back into place because of its leaking fuel pump and not moved it for a few weeks.   Pushing it back out I noticed a massive pool of ATF on the ground.

Strangely enough, while I was using the car daily, I hadn’t seen a leak.   The car did come to me quite low on fluid. There is obviously a leak that seems more based on time than use.  Looking under the car, it seems to be on the plastic attachment with the two lines coming out of it.   Possibly there is some kind of O-ring that has broken there?

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• The original engine driven fuel pump had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump
• There was severe vibration on braking
• Front suspension was worn
• Valves were out of adjustment on #2 causing poor running and smoke at idle
• The gearchange mechanism would occasionally get ‘stuck’
• The gearbox had a bad oil leak

All the work on the car for these jobs was done by Jason at Pallas Motors.  I was able to source all the parts I needed from CCOCA, which makes keeping an older car like the traction on the road much easier.

The traction was originally fitted with a mechanical fuel pump that is driven by the engine.  For one reason or another this had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump.   These are often fitted because starting can be hard with the mechanical pump, but the pump is fitted with a primer lever to pump additional fuel up the carby if the car has been sitting for a while.

The gear change rods linkages were fairly worn and these were tightened up to improve the gear change as well.

The vibration on braking turned out to be number of factors.   The front suspension was fairly worn and was partially rebuilt with upgraded upper control arm bushings.   These are uprated units that can use rubber bushings instead of the original brass.    In addition, adjustable ball joints were fitted.   The originals require shims to set up.

The next thing that was contributing to the vibration turned out to be a bent wheel.   Luckily the spare was very good so this was changed.

Finally, the valves were adjusted which fixed the low compression on #2 and the gearbox removed and new output shaft seals fitted.   This seems to have fixed the gearbox oil leak.

All in all the Traction is starting to drive as well as it looks.   Its not perfect, but its a hell of a lot better than it was before this work was done.

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