I recently had to replace the fuelp pump on my '88 IROC. Planning on a 383 in the future (and after some research on the internet), I decided to "upgrade" to a Walbro 255 lph. I installed it at the end of April and it failed at the end of July. I realize it may be a very small percentage of the product that fails, but this thread is intended to warn potential buyers that the company was sold to another company called T.I. I contacted Joe Toon at T.I. and he informed me that they (T.I.) "sell the product at a discounted rate in lieu of a warranty". Just a heads up to the future customer. I'm not trying to bash the product or company as there seems to be many happy customers. I'm just trying to warn potential customers of the "No Warranty" policy that T.I. has. Here is a copy of the email he sent: Daniel, We’re sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately, we sell our fuel pumps at a discounted price to our distributors in lieu of warranty. We typically do not experience a high rate of warranty on our pumps. Failure in various conditions may occur for many reasons such as incorrect installation or application or fuel conditions. Best regards, Joe Yoon It may be noted I run only Chevron with Techron 91 octane in my IROC. I did the pump istall myself per the direction it came with. I used a 91 tank that was prepped with a tank liner(to prevent rust), a new sending unit from GM, and a larger pick up filter. I tried to do everything possible to prevent me from having to do this again as it is labor intensive(being that the pump is in-tank, and in order to pull the tank you have to pull the rear end down, pull the exhaust, and the heat shields before you can pull the tank.)! All this to say, I don't think I could have installed it any better than I did. Just my .02, but I'll be going back to a GM pump when I get the drive to tear into the IROC again. In the meantime, she sits in the driveway.

hmm, thats werid, I havent heard anything about them selling out. Where did you buy yours from? I got mine from walbrofuelpumps.com , hopefully I got the "legit" batch. So you mean walbro actually sold out, or is this a walbro distributor?

When the pump went out, I contacted the distributor I bought it from(Injected Performance).
http://www.injectedperformance.com/
They told me that there was no warranty through them or Walbro. I contacted Walbro in AZ.:
http://www.walbro.com/contactus.aspx
and they told me that the fuel pump division was sold to a company called T.I. Automotive:
http://www.tiautomotive.com/
I called them(Joe Yoon) who responded with the above email.
I hope this helps,
Daniel U

Does it state anywhere that you are buying a discounted item in lieu of a warranty?

No, and it was my fault for not checking on the warranty before I purchased it. I will learn from this. Anytime I puchase something in the future I will check to verify the product's company return policy/warranty.

You're not the first person lately to say those have turned into junk. Sad. I wish we could plaster that into every post here recommending them... because they used to be a decent product.

No warranty=no future sales as far as I'm concerned. They're basically telling you they're junk right up front, take your chances with their made in China garbage.

so who are yall recommending? It seems that all these years Ive been wrenching, everyone Ive talked to has sworn by Walbro. I guess Holley, or if you want high dollar Aeromotive are about the only "reliable" choices that come to mind. But I always though that Holley's were just Walbros with Holley stamped on them.

Holley's are Walbro pumps with their logo.

well damn, Aeromotive it is I guess

Did he tell you when they sold that part of the company? I wonder if my pump is one of theirs....I bought and installed my pump in august of last year and it's worked great so far, so i'm just crossing my fingers that I got one of their last good ones!

I'm not trying to bad mouth any company, but I wish I would've known about the lack of return policy/no warranty. Grannetelli(sp?) makes a pump also. My buddy,(Camaero screen name)has had good luck with his.

damn, I hope my recently installed Walbro doesn't die... I bought and installed mine back in April off an ebay vendor. So far its held up. I've also heard that they require fuel to keep them cool and running the tank low isn't always good for them...

That's true with all in the tank pumps

I should also note that in the short time I drove the IROC with the new pump installed, it never got below 1/2 a tank. I ride my motorcycle 2 days a week and car pool the other 3 days. I gassed them both up every weekend to eliminate having to do it after work.

DAMN... That sucks. Walbro has an awesome product. This is gonna affect alot of companies. I think Accel, Holley, Edelbrock, and Summit pumps, were all Walbro. I've had my 190lph for like 8 years now, with no trouble at all! I am about to get a 255 forthe '92. This really SUCKS big time! Looks like I will be going with a Carter pump which I have also used before with no problems.

Great...I just finished doing mine last weekend. I thought that Walbro was the way to go. I bought the complete kit from a Canadian distributor who deals with Racetronix. I hope mine doesn't give out. Lets just say it was a really fun job getting the tank out.

Darrell

Anyone have anything to say about the Aeromotive pumps? I have a Walbro 255 and have had no problems with it, but I havent heard much on the Aeromotive pumps.

to be honest, I dont even know if they make OE replacement in-tank pumps. I know they make all kinds of externals, never even checked on in-tank

Aeromotive is good, but don't think it is failure free. I have had their products fail almost immediately.. that said I still run parts from them and Walbro..

How many people run BMR, Spohn, Edelbrock, etc.. all of them have had failures, but we still run their products.

With performance parts you pay the money and take your chances.. I have yet to find a company that is "failure free". Just an .02

i think the fuel pump just went out on my car. i was thinking about walbro but im concerned about the no warranty situation. What about the BBK pumps. does anyone know if they are reliable? it also says they have a 1 year limited manufacturers warranty.

What you will probably find is that it is a relabeled Walbro or similar, if it has a warrantee go for it.. If you are not planning on getting a high HP engine I would just get a pump from autozone or somewhere with a lifetime warrantee.

FWIW if you get a holley (relabled walbro) from summit or jegs and it suffers an early failure they will take it back and refund, I am guessing the same goes for almost any part that fails early.

My aeromotive regulator I had in box for a year, then installed it. It failed after two days and Jegs took it back and refunded me a year after purchase.

My personal recommend for those looking for high HP N/A intank pumps is still the racetronix pump and harness..

I am looking to go with a carbed 383 in the future. i figured if the pump was bad then i would just upgrade to a better pump that would handle a bigger motor. Is the racetronix kit a direct replacement for the TBI because i noticed that it said it was for the TPI.

Didn't notice you were tbi.. Those kits should all be tpi.. that is out of my area of expertise, if it were mine for a carb I would get a nice external pump and regulator to run the show.

Sorry to hijack.

i have a bbk 255 lph pump in mine 88 tbi never had a problem yet works great had for almost a year i think. made an access door to get to every thing too so i wouldnt have to drop everything

My Holley/Walbro failed within six months. Buddies Accel/Walbro did too. Heard of several others. No doubt in my mind they are junk. Never again.

So if so many manufacturers are using rebadged / repackaged Walbros and they are now junk, WHERE DO WE TURN NOW???

I replaced my dead one long ago with a Delco from the junkyard, still holds great 50 PSI across the board. I wanted to upgrade soon, not downgrade sheez.

Sorry to hear about your problems Daniel

Grand National AC Delco pump

Funny I just found this thread. I'm on my 3rd walbro 255 hipressure pump since April (less than 600 miles). The first one I popped was definetly my fault but the last 2 havent' been. BTW, T.I. Automotive is a HUGE company with a large global prescence, mainly in China. I used to deal with TI alot for automotive fastner molds (plastic injection molding).
I need a pump quickly so I just ordered my last Walbro 255 today to get my car going for the weekend. So, to date I've lost (1) Holley (walbro is sheeps clothing) due to my own ignorance, and 2 Walbro's. For the cost of these 4 total pumps I obviously could have gone Aeromotive but can't find a nice carb style tank pickup to use with it and I'm not going to bottom sump my tank anytime soon.

My friend had 2 Walbro 255 pumps fail in the last few months on his Grand National. There was a bunch of posts on Turbobuick about the high failure rate lately of the Walbro pumps. The Buick guys are talking about using this Bosch pump:
Bosch 0 580 254 040 In Tank Fuel Pump

Bosch 040 Fuel Pump Specs:
Bosch Part Number: 0 580 254 040
Minimum Current: 12 Volts
Operating Pressure: 94 PSI (6.5 Bar)
Minimum Flow @ Outlet: 80 GPH (300 LPH)
Fuel Pump Location: In Tank
High Temperature Reduction: 8 GPH (30 LPH)
Weight: 930 Grams (2.05 Pounds)

Looks like a pain to get in the tank, but supposed to be a solid piece. Just some alternative ideas.
Tim


Here's the thread.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/gen...yone-done.html

I dont know how you're gonna get that thing in the tank without a serious fight, its significantly larger than the stock pump. I have the inline version, its huge. IIRC its 3" OD.

Someone mentioned it earlier but how is the Granatelli 255 LPH Fuel pump? Is it just another renamed walbro?

http://www.jegs.com/i/Granatelli/467/GM722-2/10002/-1

Granatelli and Holley are both Walbro

I have a Bosh pump in my car. Its been 5yrs and going strong. Purchased it from TPIS Part # 300-186, not sure if it is the same as the pump mentioned above. It really was not that hard to install. (once you click on the link you will have to go through the pages a bit to get to the fuel pumps.) http://www.tpis.com/index.php?module...uel+Components

I have had no problems with my Edelbrock (aka) Walbro pump. Had it on almost 3 years with no issues. I hope I dont get a surprise anytime soon as it was no fun to put in.

My wifes 92 vert has the Bosch pump installed and no problems too

Well damn. I've been hunting around for other problems with my car because I put too much trust in my walbro pump. Apparently it wasn't reasonable for me to expect this pump to last more than 5000 miles... here is the thread I started, read the very last post where I mention my results after testing the fuel pressure: http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/te...=1#post3875755 (Car runs like crap and wants to stall out during acceleration.)
Thank god I have an access hatch, and thank god I still have the old pump I removed in favor of the "high performance" walbro.

That sucks!! I've been using mine (Walbro) for over four years and still running strong. I guess, when It dies, I will be sumping-and-pumping with aeromotive!!!! The only other brand I trust.

Anybody know if the mallory or bbk pumps are relabeled walbros? I might go with one of those.

The BBK is a Walbro. I can't speak on the Mallory.

My second Walbro pump just died, this one has only 3000 miles on it and died while I was stopped in traffic. I now see that these pumps are dying on everyone. Walbro’s warranty is, you send them the pump and $40, if they think you did something wrong they keep the $40, if not they say they will send you a new pump and your $40 back. Do you think you'll ever see that $40 again? They know these things are dying on everyone and instead of correcting the problem and honoring their warranty, they want even more money for their mistake.

How about the Toyota Supra Denso pump?

Your're buying just a name now. Walbro was sold to IT Automotive. They are a HUGE global company with mfg'ing everywhere....including China.

My suggestion and my action when my #4 walbro pump dies....buy Aeromotive.

does Aeromotive make a direct replacment hp pump for our cars?

Not exactly. They have an intank that'll flow plenty and its not too terribly large but I dont know how you could put a strainer or pickup on it. That and its $310

I didnt see anyone mention this but I assume that this issue will be carried over to the Racetronix fuel pump/systems too. I believe those are Walbro as well. On their website (www.racetronix.com) they call it a Racetronix/Walbro pump. I was going to get their fuel system to upgrade my 92z for the new 383 LT1 that is going in.

Anyone know of other fueld system upgrades I can look into? With all this about Walbro I do not want to get one of these systems and have to replace the pump all the time.

This Walbro problem only effects recent production 255LPH pumps with the F20000169 part number.

http://www.racetronix.com/F20000169vs340.html

Been using the Walbro 255 lph pump for about a year and a half and it is great. I to am in the process of a 383 build and opted for the Walbro pump for my application. Sorry to hear about your unfortunate event, that sucks, I know exactly what you mean with the amount of time and labor involved. You may want to concider making a fuel pump access door. I did as well as many others. Works out great... when done right !

Thanks Racetronix... Good to hear that it was not all but just one model. Are these going to be taken out of production? I will probably be ordering a new fuel system from racetronix and want to make sure these do not get shipped out or if they do they can be exchanged.

I supposedly had the gss-something walbro 255 and it just started going out. I've only driven the car maybe 500 miles over the past 2 years.

I also bought it from an ebay company and I can no longer find them and walbro was not printed/stamped anywhere on the pump. Who knows if I actually got a walbro or if it was a pump that didn't pass quality control. Just watch where you buy your stuff from.

Racetronix, I don't get your previous statement "This Walbro problem only effects recent production 255LPH pumps with the F20000169 part number". Would that not mean, pretty much any pump you buy is potentially a turd? I realize teh 169 pump is the predacessor (spelling?). I personally went through (3) of those 169 pumps this year and am on my 4th, HOPING I bought parts from a "bad batch". I realize your Co. sells these pumps and I'm not trying to take any business away, I was just trying to question what you meant in your statement.

I bought the highest end "kit" for the 255 from Racetronix:

http://www.racetronix.com/RX-FL98-FPKG-2.html

about 4 years ago but I haven't installed it yet. I was planning on installing it next month.

Is this going ot be one of the bad batch????????

I'm pretty sure he is talking about me. Mine failed in less than 6 months after I did my LS1 swap, such a waste of money. I got mine from hawks, which I never called him about it because its not his fault walbro sucks.

But I will never ever suggest them to anyone, and I will never purchase one again. Anytime someone brings them at the local car meets I give em an earful about it. I'll be using a stock 4th gen tank instead...should have just saved myself the money and done that the first go 'round