33 replies to this topic

[Alex]

As much as I love my Subaru.... I hate it. Bastard hasn't started in over two weeks now. In hopelessness, I've abandoned it.

It's sitting in my garage... but with work commitments, I was forced to forget about it.


I came close to setting it alight last night.... truly.


Long story sorter shorter.


Dylan and I went out for dinner last night. Was some of the best salt and pepper pork chop we've had in a long time.

Came home, and Dylan wanted to poke and prod my..... car. (Yeah, it was good date... but we find it more bromantic to swing.... spanners)

Dylan plugged in his.... cam and crank angle sensors. No change.

Poked and prodded some more.

We went through the usual mental (and alcohol fueled) car diagnosis routine.

Dylan asked if my fuel pump would be an issue:

"....nah mate. It's 18 months old. It's a Sard fuel pump, and I paid about $400 for the prick. It's not the fuel pump."
"...but I can't hear it prime."
"....nah mate, it's a freaking quiet thing. It's rated to 3000hp, and it runs on rainbows and unicorn smiles. It won't be the fuel pump"

So I remembered in a bolt of inspiration.... When I did my parallel fuel rail conversion, I was also running a sard fuel pressure regulator.... I was starting to think it was the FPR dying.

I checked the gauge (hidden for stealfz). Crank. No change.

So then we entertained the idea of fuel pump.

Disconnected the fuel pump at the pump. No change.

Tested the voltage at the plug. Fine. 12.5v.

".....lets rip out the fuel pump Alex"
"....nah. its not the fuel pump Dyls. But lets check it out"

Rip it out.

We found this:









The terminals were near on impossible to remove. Took about a good fifteen minutes at least.
We found they were "melted". I tested it at a battery, and it wouldn't work without jiggling it.

I don't trust it, so I'll be replacing it today.

See what happens.

Thought I'd share.

[Delete This Account]

Walbro mate. Walbro.

[acres]

Wonder how it managed to do that. It should have just blown a fuse if it was pulling too many amps. Maybe check out the fuses too.

[Alex]

I did find a blown fuse. From memory, I can't remember what it was.

I replaced it under desperation, to no avail.


Going to go check out a couple of pumps. Walbro is an option.

But I'll be looking primarily at the Bosch 040.

[Morgan]

You two are cute


Hope this is the answer mate!

[aekOne]

yikes! good luck getting it sorted mate

[buzzda]

**** eh! Hope the new one sorts it out for ya.

[Hypnotic]

Hope it's a quick fix for you Alex, and good find Dyl.

[RX25SE]

NEVER TEST A FUEL PUMP OUT OF THE CAR BY CONNECTING IT TO A BATTERY



Fuel pumps are DC electric motors immersed in fuel. These motors are fitted with brushes to send power to the armature. As the brushes spin over the commutator they produce a spark. The reason they dont blow up in the tank is, being immersed in fuel, they are starved of oxygen and can't explode.
If you test them on the bench by connecting a battery, the sparks from the brushes may ignite the fuel vapour in the pump.

You MOFOs are lucky.



edit: Morgs is right, you are both cute.

[Delete This Account]

Is there anything you don't know, Jase?

Good info, cheers.

[CodeBurn3r]

NEVER TEST A FUEL PUMP OUT OF THE CAR BY CONNECTING IT TO A BATTERY
blah blah blah BOOM

Wait.. how does it not go boom when your tank is low?
or is it the fuel vapour is too high vs oxygen??

oh, Alex, Fuel pump wiring connections are big problems in subaru, have had countless Suby's come in with those kinda problems when i was in that line of work.. dont know why they do but they just seem to melt to connectors?

[XXB4XX]

Wait.. how does it not go boom when your tank is low?
or is it the fuel vapour is too high vs oxygen??

oh, Alex, Fuel pump wiring connections are big problems in subaru, have had countless Suby's come in with those kinda problems when i was in that line of work.. dont know why they do but they just seem to melt to connectors?

Yep.. fuel itself is not actually combustible, it's more the vapour that comes off it.. e.g, a can of fuel won't actually EXPLODE like in the movies, it will just ignite and burn.. so having the spark immersed inside the fuel with no access to oxygen at all shouldn't ignite it.

[Delete This Account]

Yep.. fuel itself is not actually combustible, it's more the vapour that comes off it.. e.g, a can of fuel won't actually EXPLODE like in the movies, it will just ignite and burn.. so having the spark immersed inside the fuel with no access to oxygen at all shouldn't ignite it.

Mythbusters taught me that.

[CodeBurn3r]

yeah exactly, so how does it not go boom when the tank is low? thus only covered in vapour?

[Dylan]

NEVER TEST A FUEL PUMP OUT OF THE CAR BY CONNECTING IT TO A BATTERY



Fuel pumps are DC electric motors immersed in fuel. These motors are fitted with brushes to send power to the armature. As the brushes spin over the commutator they produce a spark. The reason they dont blow up in the tank is, being immersed in fuel, they are starved of oxygen and can't explode.
If you test them on the bench by connecting a battery, the sparks from the brushes may ignite the fuel vapour in the pump.

You MOFOs are lucky.



edit: Morgs is right, you are both cute.

Are you serious!!!

I've done it so many times and I am still alive????

Surely. SURELY. it's OK if petrol drains out of it, I wouldn't have thought there would be enough fuel / vapour around to even risk that happening if you are FAR away from the car ??

How else are you meant to test it ???

P.S. You're all JLSH8R's.

[CodeBurn3r]

I guess in the eyes of safety you shouldn't do it..
in case one of the safeguards fail or a series of events/environmental anomalies leads the worst to happen.

hell i swapped fuel pumps just a few days ago in the gen1 in a car park, minimum tools, with a full tank of fuel. a bit safer than an empty one but still did everything possible to minimise risk in the circumstances.

like you should never get under a car without jack stands... everyone has thrown a head under for a minute to do something with the mind set of "it'll be right mate"
but it happens. else we would never be told not to do it.

I'm still curious how it goes on a low tank though? or is it a case of it "Could" spark? and in 99.999999999999% of cases it shouldn't?

[RX25SE]

yeah exactly, so how does it not go boom when the tank is low? thus only covered in vapour?

Because fuel is drawn in from the bottom of the pump and passes over the bushes and armature too cool them (they work hard so generate lots of heat) before the fuel enters the pump chamber. Fuel in one end, out the other. The swirl pot in the tank maintains a reliable supply of fuel to the inlet of the pump.

Are you serious!!!

Yes.

I've done it so many times and I am still alive????

Buy a lotto ticket.

How else are you meant to test it ???

While it's still in the tank. Use a fuel pressure gague to test pressure and a flow test (litres per min.) to test output. You can have pressure with no/low flow.

[Dylan]

Well I will be flocked.

Would you say it's "safe" to do this test after the pump has been out of the tank for 24hrs + Jase, and allowed to dry?

I realise I am nitpicking but honestly can't believe that doing that poses such a great risk !

Lottery tickets are crap. I never win

[CodeBurn3r]

put it in a bucket of water.. if it works just put it straight back in tank

makes sense now, now Jase... update me as to why a blown fuse would cause random ****.. in my thread of course lol

/Hijack

[RX25SE]

Would you say it's "safe" to do this test after the pump has been out of the tank for 24hrs + Jase, and allowed to dry?

No.

I realise I am nitpicking but honestly can't believe that doing that poses such a great risk !

Why take a risk?
I have a pump here somewhere that has the sides blown out of it due to a bench test.
If I can find it, I'll post some pics.