Fuel pumps are just soooo much fun to put in our cars, right? Wrong! Okay, this is the third fuel pump I've put in, in less than a year. The first two were POS Auto Zone pumps which I shouldn't of ever done and the third is from CarQuest. Recently I have noticed that when I take a turn, the engine dies off as if it's lacking in fuel. This is what it did before the first one died. This new pump is only about a week old. There is plenty of gas in the tank. What could be causing this stuttering around the turns? Could there be another problem causing these pumps to die? Fuel filter is relatively new and a new strainer was installed with all of them. Please help!

 

I had a '97 Sierra pickup come in that was a "Fuel Pump Eater". It was on its fourth replacement pump in 110,000 miles, and had just killed that one. That means that including the original pump, five pumps had failed. It was a CPFI system, which required at least 58 PSIG to even start. A thorough inspection revealed that the Carter pump was toast, and that an electrical connection near the tank was failing. My conclusion was that the poor connection was causing low voltage to the pump(s), causing premature failure. I dutifully installed an original AC/Delco replacement pump and pickup filter, and replaced both halves of the suspect WeatherPak connector (soldered in, of course). I haven't heard of any problems since. That was about eleven months ago, and the guy is a neighbor of mine. He wouldn't hesitate to tell me if there was a problem, so I'm confident that the problem is resolved.

You might want to closely inspect the connections in the fuel pump circuit under a real load and measure for voltage drop. If anything is suspect, repair or replace it.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it's a 305 TPI. So it does require high fuel pressure. I was thinking it has to be something else that is causing these pump failures. I believe you might be on to something. I'll check it out with my multimeter and see what's going on down there. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

Well, lets chaulk another one up. This time this pump only lasted a week! So there is definitely something funky going on. I'll post back with the conclusion of this continuing saga.

 

Well everything is checking out electronically. Solid 12 volts. I will still replace the connectors and such. I forgot to mention that my 305 has recently been rebuilt with a lot of performance parts, big cam... so I'm thinking that maybe these other "stock" pumps are just not being able to hang with this new engine. I ordered a Holley 255 lph pump from Jeg's. I'm going to cross my fingers, get down on my kness and pray to the car gods:hail: that this will fix the problem.

 

You're not re-using the original pulsator, are you?

 

Pulsator? What does that do and where is it? I think I've read somewhere about people just taking them out or something. Please give me some info on this.

 

Okay, I know exactly what the pulsator is and what it does. Since I have never bought one or the shop who has done the work on it, I know it hasn't been changed out. Could this really be the problem with these pumps going out so fast? They are only like $12 so I'm definitely going to change that out this round.

 

That's a pulsation damper, and can be replaced with just a section of hose. I've never installed a replacement pulsation damper, just hose, but then again, I don't replace fuel pumps for a living. The last one I did was a week ago on a Cavalier, and it didn't have a damper in line. They are totally different. The pump was $282.00 dealer net, and is only available as an entire kit with the level sensor, pump, damper, case, hoses, and a whole octopus of stuff. Maybe we don't know how lucky we are.