Fuel Pump??? Please Help!
02-01-2012, 10:20 AM
#1
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Maryland
Posts: 158
Fuel Pump??? Please Help!
Ok, we had unseasonably warm temps here in Maryland yesterday, so I took my baby for a spin. After driving for about one hour, I felt a sudden loss of power. All dash gauges remained normal during this power loss... I pulled over and she sputtered to a stop and died. I turned the key to the on position to see if I could hear the fuel pump whine, but it did not. I can always hear the whine from inside the car. So logic would dictate that the fuel pump has died, Right? Well, the car was towed to the Ford garage... the guy said it gave a "lean condition burp" this morning, and fired right up... he said they are taking it for test drives (I bet they are), to see if the problem reappears... I HATE having my car at the Ford stealership... is it possible for a fuel pump to die, then come back to life? Any other possible item that may have failed? relay? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!!!
02-01-2012, 10:35 AM
#2
5th Gear Member
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 2,459
Yes it is very possible. The fuel pumps in these cars use the fuel to cool them. If you consistently run low fuel levels the fuel pump is consistently above its operating temp. Mine died the exact same way yours did, then after about 20-30 minutes when the pump cools back down it worked again. I replaced the pump and had no issue for a while... I was in college at the time and consistently ran it at about a quarter of a tank. The new pump failed within a year. Then I learned why it was failing, I have not run less than a half tank in my car since then, except when I was on the highway going to Florida and pulling over for gas at anything above 1/4 tank was a waste of time. I have not had any problems since. Been 5 years now.
02-01-2012, 11:05 AM
#4
5th Gear Member
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 2,459
They might not find out that it's bad because they are not running it long enough with low fuel levels to heat up the pump to the point of failure. Just something to consider if they say nothing is wrong.
02-01-2012, 11:32 AM
#7
D.R. THE PATHETIC DORK
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 30,863
don't even need to do that!!.....current ramp test if they know anything and an occiliscope to view the wave form of the windings, if windings are going bad, pattern will be erratic
02-01-2012, 01:59 PM
#9
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Maryland
Posts: 158
Now the garage wants to keep it another day to see if they can replicate the problem by taking it out for joy rides... said they did a fuel pressure test and some other diagnostics but all has come back as good. On the one hand I just want to tell them to replace the fuel pump, and be done with it. On the other hand, what if it's something else... this bites...
02-01-2012, 05:22 PM
#10
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 478
Really? You have to maintain a half a tank to not worry about your fuel pump? That is just wrong. It's like Ford issuing a recall of the stock 15 gallon tank and giving you a 7 gallon tank and expecting you to be happy about it. That would bring my range between refilling to 112 miles at 16 mpg.
So what do we replace the stock pump with if we want to actually use the entire capacity of our tanks?
So what do we replace the stock pump with if we want to actually use the entire capacity of our tanks?
