Just to clarify... when i submit something signed it says its in mempool and just sits .. never is picked up for confirmation ...
It's your mempool, it's still subjected to other node's mempool if your transaction will propagate.
Try to search its txid in blockexplorers; if it's not there, chances that it's only in your node (
or a few nodes) is high.
Follow up question .. when you fundtransaction is this the same as singing it ? As it indicates its signed at that point
No, it's used to add inputs to an existing transaction.
Mainly used for funding no input transactions created via createrawtransaction command.