A was for Austin, but now B is for Bedford

90% of carburettor problems are electrical.

Hello PDU,
I am glad to hear that you are making progress and that B for is improving as you drive it.
I had problems with the accelerator pump piston sticking in the carburetor of my WO303 (that is what is stamped on the body plate) although they are generally called a WC303 . Same as Austin WE303. I tried unsuccessfully to grasp the top of it and my mate who is a Marine Engineer horrified me by turning the carby upside down and bashing it on a steel bench. The piston came out and I polished it on a wire wheel until it would float easily on its spring.
Good luck.

Lang wrote:

90% of carburettor problems are electrical.

I reckon 90% of us know stuff all about carbys and we just dick about with them until they work, we dunno what we done so call it fixed, me included the 90%


Paul
 

PDU,

Not sure if this helps for the future or not.  This link has some good information on the Bedford vacuum master cylinder. about page 75.

s9c749554ed0cf09e.jimcontent.com/downloa...ruction%20Manual.pdf

Lang, you are echoing my father’s words. That is something my father used to always drum into me.

 Things are still happening around here BUT not real fast . . .
 
There has been a consistent feature with B for, it ticks along (slowly) and then just splutters to a stop (Cobbadog could confirm this as it did that when we met). I am sure it is fuel related but I'm not having much joy at all. I have tried two different mechanical pumps, two different Bedford carburettors, taken the fuel tank off to check fuel pickup & pipe fittings, cleaned the fuel filter (currently removed) bypassed the mechanical pump and relied on the electric pump, rerouted the fuel pipe away from the thermostat just in case that was causing the issue, and each time I make a change it all seems good . . . for a while . . . before repeating the problem yet again. It has been dragging me down more than a little.

Each time I think I've got it sorted I attempt  a run up a steep hill near home. My initial attempt at that hill resulted in only making it 3/4 of the way up and then a total refusal to restart!
 
Interesting experience reversing it back down the hill until reaching a large opening on the opposite side which I reversed into and then managed to coax it barely back into life, eventually getting it home again (three or more stops and more coaxing) by using a very dubious fuel line connection by-passing the mechanical pump.

Over the next few weeks this persisted as I went through all the obvious checks with the fuel lines and carburettor until a successful run up the hill and over the top, but then it coughed in protest (oh oh!?). Fortunately I managed to run into an open paddock, keeping it running long enough to back it out, and returning home again without issue. Things were checked again and all appeared to be okay with a few laps around town showing no more problems.

Bouyed by this result I thought it should be okay to use for our Christmas Pageant (two rounds of the main shopping precinct) but considering the high temperatures expected decided to wait until a particularly hot day and trundled it around the route THREE times and back home again. NB I stayed away from that bloody hill! 

Two days later I decided to drive it to the Heritage Centre to let them know I was intending to use it for the Pageant and organised another (unwilling?) volunteer to take our self-propelled wheelchair around instead of me.
 
Well, that was the plan, except the truck decided to play up all the way there and further attention was made to the fuel line yet again! Once reconnected it started up perfectly AND drove home without the slightest hint that anything was wrong at all.

The following day I repeated the Pageant route again and as things were running really well I decided to try the hill once more (glutton for punishment?) which it cleared with relative ease. In fact I was so confident I decided to go over the next hill too . . . which it cleared also and then decided it was time to cough, die, and then refuse to restart.
 
I won’t go into the fun of getting it home from there but a short tow to the top of each hill and back down the other sides in angel gear before as it was rolling to a final halt I tried one final attempt to restart it. Mind boggling but the cantankerous bugger started and from there it drove home without any signs off distress. This was the point when I redirected the fuel line over the rocker cover, away from the thermostat and radiator assuming this might be the cause.

The next day the truck started as per usual and was moved out of the shed for washing, a general tidy up and some decorations for the Pageant. With an hour to go I was hot to trot, started the engine, reversed it halfway through the front gate and it cut out! After twenty minutes of fruitless effort it was pushed back into the shed and that’s where it has sat until now. 

Am I looking for a better year in 2026?  Is it all really worth it? 

Is it sucking air in somewhere, just enough to let it splutter out, if it can’t recover enough fuel to overcome the "air bubble " could be a gasket, hose or crack in a fitting, would be very small leak. It used to be a problem with the wrong size fuel lines on aftermarket fuel filters
Gumpy

Sounds like the float is sticking and stopping fuel

Maybe try a small boat fuel tank up high and gravity into the carby, if it runs fine then the issue is before the carby

If it still gives dramas the issue is the carby

But I dunno

Paul

PDU,
Long time no hear!

Grumpy Gumpy and MrsMackPaul appear to have given you all the remaining clues, if it really is a fuel problem.
After you have tried all their suggestions, I would be looking at an electrical fault. Check the coil, condenser and all wire terminations, including the distributor cap and rotor button. As you probably know, a faulty coil can get hot after a short run and break down. Many other electrical faults can appear at times. I remember my 1929 Chev. cutting out on a run and after towing it to their workshop, two mechanics spent two hours working on it and eventually found a hairline crack in the contact on the rotor button.

Morris.

I'm with Paul, double check the float level and movement. Also worth looking at the needle valve.