UKH

Another random non-climbing/car fixing post asking for the wisdom of the UKC community, any help appreciated.

The fuel pump on my battered old Ford Focus 1.6 petrol died last week, diagnosed by the recovery man at first and then by myself and my dad.
We replaced it yesterday and now it's up and running again but I've a few niggles and questions that I was wondering if anyone could help me with.
I'm wondering why the old one failed, cold there be an underlying problem? any ideas of things to check, the fuel filter was changed quite recently.
The new pump seems very noisy, could this indicate a problem?
The sender unit on the new pump seems very slow to respond, any ideas if this will free up over time?

Any help appreciated, I'm looking at other forums but this place often comes up trumps.

Thanks,

Gethin.

In reply to gethin_allen:

I'd say that old age and wear and tear are the most likely causes. If the car is old I wouldn't waste time looking for other causes.

In reply to timjones:
That's exactly what I'm hoping was the cause, I worked it out that the thing must have pumped 14,000 litres of fuel at a minimum so it's not done too badly.

In reply to gethin_allen:

The noisy new pump could be due to worn bearings, trapped air, cheap pump or something else I haven't thought of. You'll probably be able to guess which of these answers is most likely to be correct

In reply to gethin_allen:

FixOrRepairDaily.

Not the first Ford with a dodgy sender and pump. They have improved vastly. Thirty years ago this was universal.

In reply to Jim Fraser:


I don't think it's done too badly to be fair, even the FIAT (Fix It Again Tomorrow) I had beforehand didn't really live up to it's reputation.

The car is 13 years old and although I think it's going to fail it's MOT this year for some suspension issues (it's still running it's original shock absorbers) I haven't replaced a massive amount of stuff on it and the parts are quite cheap because they are so ubiquitous.

In reply to gethin_allen:

We have a freelander with the BMW diesel engine - in 180000 miles I have replaced the fuel pump three times and expect to do so again shortly. Apparently the commutator segments wear with use. In tank- pumps on petrol cars seem to last longer but still suffer from poor fuel and crap in the fuel tank. In my experience cheap pumps (whether petrol or diesel) are always noisy and rarely last more than a couple of years.

In reply to gethin_allen:


It will have pumped loads more than that. At a guess at least 3 times as much.

Since pumps went electrical & not engine driven they went to a bypass loop system. The mechanical pump would pump more as the engine went faster. Even that type could have a bypass fitted.

Electric pumps run at a constant speed & can pump far in excess of the max needs of the engine at full load & speed. So at lower revs & loads the spare fuel gets sent back to the tank.

In reply to gethin_allen:

Inadequate filtration, wet/corrosive fuel or old age would be my suggestions. The only one I've ever killed was inadequate filtration, a tiny spec of something, maybe paint jammed a brand new injection pump solid. I rebuilt it but couldn't trust it.

jk

In reply to Richard Wilson:

... Electric pumps run at a constant speed & can pump far in excess of the max needs of the engine at full load & speed. So at lower revs & loads the spare fuel gets sent back to the tank.

I knew that but for some reason it totally escaped my mind. It's seems like a rather inefficient method to be pumping all that fuel around but apparently it keeps the pump cool and makes the challenge of regulating fuel pressure simpler.

It makes the fact that the last pump lasted so long seem even more amazing.