Electric fuel pump

DanielForest

DanielForest

True Classic
Hi,

I'm using electric fuel pump on my car to feed my twin Webers for years. Even with insulation spacers, some were really noisy. Others didn't last a year. The one on my car actually is acting strangely, making noise from time to time, remaining quiet the rest of the time. Since there is still some time before summer, I'm thinking of fitting a Facet one. On MWB site, they offerted 3 different model of Facet. The more expensive Gold Flow ($134,99)
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a rotary one (special price of $52,79)
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and a cube one (special price of $57,79).
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I'm willing to pay the price for the best one, but is it worth the money? I know it's more powerful, but even with a modified engine and twin DCOE's, I think all of them will provide me enough fuel.

This time, I'm going to fit relays to unsure a longer life. Also, should I mount it as low as possible or could I get it where the carb fan used to sit?

Do some of you had any experience with these fuel pumps and give me some tips?
 
Electric fuel pumps in general seem to have become problematic in recent years. Not sure why the change, but even a lot of the top "name" brands are worthless anymore. Facet is one of the brands I've had less than satisfactory luck with, including the first and third ones you showed. Oddly the one that has held up quite well is typically used on big American muscle cars, from Holley:
https://www.holley.com/products/fue...carbureted_electric_fuel_pumps/parts/12-801-1
 
I will have to agree with the statement that the pumps top name brands are worthless. The Abarth Swap requires a fuel pressure of 59 PSI so a high pressure pump and fuel regulator are required. The pump is 5 years old and the car has 6000 miles on it, I can hear it running but it does not produce any pressure. I went to Car Quest and showed him the model number of the Bosch pump that I needed. $278 CND but he could not guarantee that the pump was not a cheap knock off from China worth 50 bucks. I purchased a new pump for $50 on ebay and will install it shortly. I am going to take the old pump apart and see why it will not produce pressure. I have had these pumps apart before and they are a roller pump. I suspect the rollers are collapsed and not making contact with the outer housing of the pump. I do have a pre filter on the pump to stop dirt from getting into it, so I don't think that is the issue.

So in answer to your question, when purchasing a new pump, buy 2 because it will not last long and you need a spare.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
If it is a 3.5 psi pump, a Pierburg. A decade on my latest one and still going strong. I do carry a spare. Not cheap. But a good pump. Up high is fine.
Pierburg_912.jpg
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I'm feeding dual DCNFs with the stock mechanical pump since 1980. Never had an issue with fuel delivery except when the return spring got too short from rust and the stroke got too short to run at full throttle at high speed. I'm on my third pump. The first two lasted about 10 years before they were replaced. If the spring was available separately, I might still be using the original pump but they were pretty cheap the last time I bought one so not worth searching for a spring, particularly in pre Internet days.
 
I have had a Facet cube style electric fuel pump on my X since July of 1990. I bought two at the time but I never needed that spare. It is still sitting in my spares box.
 
I hear you about carrying a spare. I was stranded in the middle of nowhere when one of my pump died in a long trip. A nice fellow living down the road gave me a lift to a car parts store to get a new one. This was part of my history to get back with my X19, Ben Boyd, an australian friend in visit in Canada who never drove a lhd car before, towing a trailer with spare parts and race tires, from the first centralized Canadian Autoslalom championship.

In my free time, I shoud start translating the article I wrote about this trip (it is in French). I won a trophy, The Hard Luck tropjy. I got a rock in my new windshield, lost my muffler on scarified road, lost my trailer while driving in Manitoba, lost a driveshaft on the north of the Great Lakes, and sheared all my flywheel bolts... BTW,my avatar picture was at that event!
 
mwp8101 said:
I have had a Facet cube style electric fuel pump on my X since July of 1990. I bought two at the time but I never needed that spare. It is still sitting in my spares box.
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Had you bought only the one, it would have failed at the most inopportune moment. Every one you would have bought since would only have lasted a few months to a year and would follow the inopportune rule.
 
I have been using the cube Facets on all my Fiats for decades and have yet to have a failure. I, like all the other X owners, mount them on the sturdy mounting plate near the tank sending unit top. On spiders I located them in the trunk right next to the tank top (where Fiat put the electric pump on the one year that spiders had electric pumps, 1975 I think)

I should carry a spare pump...but then I should have a spare tire too.
 
It might be worth noting that pumps I'd purchased back in the 80's and 90's are good. It is the more recent products (even the same brands and models as from then) that are not lasting. So it may be possible that reports of a good experience with a particular pump that has lasted decades will not necessarily be the same result if purchased today.
 
As usual no matter what issue I have there's a thread for it. I've been hearing a low pitched whine (not sure how else to describe it - a mechanical hum perhaps) for a while which I traced to the fuel pump. I have had no fuel delivery issues since I put in a prefilter and changed the pump and the main filter, but I don't remember if it was always making noise or whether it just started bothering me. I put in a Carquest electric pump from Advanced Auto (Part # E219650). Someone had suggested changing the prefilter after a few tanks of gas on another thread as a matter of course, so I guess the easiest thing would be to change that and see if anything else changes. Maybe the pump is working harder to get passed a partially clogged filter?

​

 
Michael Oxman said:
As usual no matter what issue I have there's a thread for it. I've been hearing a low pitched whine (not sure how else to describe it - a mechanical hum perhaps) for a while which I traced to the fuel pump. I have had no fuel delivery issues since I put in a prefilter and changed the pump and the main filter, but I don't remember if it was always making noise or whether it just started bothering me. I put in a Carquest electric pump from Advanced Auto (Part # E219650). Someone had suggested changing the prefilter after a few tanks of gas on another thread as a matter of course, so I guess the easiest thing would be to change that and see if anything else changes. Maybe the pump is working harder to get passed a partially clogged filter?

​

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That could be the case, if indeed the pump is noisier now than it was before. As you said, a prefilter that is clogging up will increase the load on the pump. However electric pumps do make a 'hum' sound when they are working normally so maybe you just didn't notice it before? Either way it won't hurt to replace the prefilter and see if things change.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
That could be the case, if indeed the pump is noisier now than it was before. As you said, a prefilter that is clogging up will increase the load on the pump. However electric pumps do make a 'hum' sound when they are working normally so maybe you just didn't notice it before? Either way it won't hurt to replace the prefilter and see if things change.
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My '85 had an annoying high pitched whine that went away when I cleaned out the inlet. There was a strainer screen that was almost totally blocked.
 
Swapped out the Wix prefilter this morning and the sound from the pump is gone! Didn't want to use my food scale to weigh it but it was definitely heavier than the new one.
 
I also swapped out my prefilter just now. Pump (original Bosch style) is now almost silent. It was whining pretty good before. I went with the Fram G3 clear instead of the metal 1 that was there. Rusty fuel came out the inlet when I removed it, so I decided to cut it open to see what was inside. I will never use a metal one again.... The clear will allow me to see what's in there to know when to change it.
 

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JKIDD said:
I also swapped out my prefilter just now. Pump (original Bosch style) is now almost silent. It was whining pretty good before. I went with the Fram G3 clear instead of the metal 1 that was there. Rusty fuel came out the inlet when I removed it, so I decided to cut it open to see what was inside. I will never use a metal one again.... The clear will allow me to see what's in there to know when to change it.
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If you are seeing that amount of rust in the filter, I would respectfully suggest purging the tank a few times with a gallon of gas you won't care about.

The FI tanks are easy to run fuel through due to the supply and return being at the bottom of the tank. To get some swirl going you could block the supply large line and pump in some fuel through the return line.

A few runs through should get most of the crap out of the tank. You can then filter it through a coffee filter and use it in your lawn equipment, they tend to be tolerant of less than perfect fuel.

I purged both my tanks and got a whole let less material than what you are showing there.
 
JKIDD said:
I also swapped out my prefilter just now. Pump (original Bosch style) is now almost silent. It was whining pretty good before. I went with the Fram G3 clear instead of the metal 1 that was there. Rusty fuel came out the inlet when I removed it, so I decided to cut it open to see what was inside. I will never use a metal one again.... The clear will allow me to see what's in there to know when to change it.
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Given the looks of the outside of that filter housing, I'm wondering if the rust inside is from the filter body corroding and not from inside the tank? I've never seen a metal filter rust like that...on the outside.

Make sure the plastic filter is a sturdy one. A Bosch FI pump can collapse some thinner plastic filters from the suction force.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Given the looks of the outside of that filter housing, I'm wondering if the rust inside is from the filter body corroding and not from inside the tank? I've never seen a metal filter rust like that...on the outside.

Make sure the plastic filter is a sturdy one. A Bosch FI pump can collapse some thinner plastic filters from the suction force.
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I should have included the reason I put this filter on in the first place was the car being brought out of a several year hibernation. I wanted to prevent anything from ruining the pump. I kinda forgot about it & should have replaced it before now. It was only when I emptied the contents of the filter into the pan, from the inlet side, did I notice the orange fuel. None of the fuel that spilled out of the line when I removed it appeared discolored. I'm guessing its a combination of tank sediment & deterioration of the metal filter. Being in the North East, the car sits for the winter as well. The Fram G3 seems to be the recommended filter I saw. I will be watching it closely to see if it starts to fill with debris or collapse.
 
LarryC said:
If it is a 3.5 psi pump, a Pierburg. A decade on my latest one and still going strong. I do carry a spare. Not cheap. But a good pump. Up high is fine.
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You can also get a Marelli MAM00008 which looks identical to the Pierburg but is a lot cheaper (22 Euros). I had a Facet Posi-Flow before this one which was noisy and eventually failed, although I can't draw any conclusions from a single experience. The Marelli is extremely quiet in comparison.
 
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