Replaced Fuel Pump Still Won't Start

triniti

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I bought a $40 fuel pump motor off of ebay and finally got everything swapped out. I put everything back together just as I took it apart and tried to fire it up. All I got was a sputter and then nothing. Every time I turn on the ignition I hear the pump prime in the rear with no problems but it seems like it still isn't getting any fuel.

The gas cap is on tight, all of the fuses have been checked. I checked both fuel lines coming out of the top of the lid to the fuel pump and there was no leakage. I also made sure that everything was connected and tightened properly on the pump module itself. But what I did notice is this and I am not sure if this is supposed to be this way or not.

I removed the engine cover and unscrewed the little cap to what looks like a tire valve. I assumed that this valve was for the fuel line pressure and I would hear something letting me know that things were trying to work. No go. I depressed on it all the way with a long screw and nothing. No hiss, woosh or nothing. I'm stumped.

This car has been down since December and I need to get it back running ASAP so somebody, anybody please help me out.
 
Remove the fuel filter and turn the key to run. Does gas come shooting out where the filter would attach?
 
Remove the fuel filter and turn the key to run. Does gas come shooting out where the filter would attach?

Are you talking about the fuel filter in the tank on the module or another one? I heard there was one by the driver's side wheel also.
 
right - the one in the wheel well. see if fuel is getting that far.

do you have lots of gas? remember the tanks will shuffle a bunch between the tanks to 'balance' them out and often leave not much in either.
 
We have an inertia switch right?

Yes, but he says that he hears the pump motor running.

(The switch is behind the driver's kick panel. There's a red button that pops up if it is triggered.)
 
Ok after messing with this car all day, here's what I did.

I didn't check the filter on the driver's side because I had a feeling that it may be the filter in the tank. It seems like the fuel isn't making it anywhere near the front of the car. After I had everything sealed up, I removed the pump outlet valve (white clip) and had my wife turn the key forward. Pump fires up for that split second but the fuel didn't spray or gush out of the opening. It kind of just lazily flowed out instead. I then tried it again, after removing the lockring and peering down inside with a flashlight looking for leaks. What I noticed is that the little opening on top of the pump motor directly in the outflow path of the line leading to the pump filter sprayed fuel out of that hole straight up. I also noticed that when I first took the pump out of the tank it was a lot of fine black stuff in the pump module bottom and flowing out of that line apparently. Of course I cleaned all of that out and it all looks like new.

So my guess is maybe this pump inline filter is clogged? And if it is, where can I get a replacement without buying the entire pump module? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, I took it all apart again to make sure that everything was put together properly and now it is sitting on my work bench waiting on the next move.

pump.jpg
 
mine does not have that filter....

is that black hose stock?

I am assuming so. I have had this car for years and this is the first time I have had fuel problems. I also used the repair guide at Autozone to replace it. I have attached the picture from the guide and the drawing looks identical to my setup, screw on hose clamps and all.

BTW, how can you tell if the jet pump is working or not? I didn't see any fuel coming in on the other line (red clip).

fuelpump.gif
 
weird - both the one in my car and the replacement one (I bought the entire assembly) had the plastic hose going from the pump to the outlet in the lid - neither had the in-line filter or the rubber hose.
 
this may or may not help...

but on the 98 mark 8, the aftermarket pumps have the wires backwards

if you reverse the red and black wires, does it pump?

try it... you might be suprised

becareful with that pump when its "out of the tank"
in the tank there is no oxygen, so its not an issue but on your work bench you could easily have an explosion

...you've been warned
hope this helps
 
weird - both the one in my car and the replacement one (I bought the entire assembly) had the plastic hose going from the pump to the outlet in the lid - neither had the in-line filter or the rubber hose.

That is odd. Fortunately, I haven't had a fuel pump failure, so I haven't looked at the assembly myself. For gen II, the service manual does not show any in-tank filter. I am really surprised that Ford would put one there and even more surprised that they would use screw clamps.
 
...BTW, how can you tell if the jet pump is working or not? I didn't see any fuel coming in on the other line (red clip).

The jet pump is powered by fuel flow from the main pump, so since the main pump isn't flowing, the jet won't either.
 
weird - both the one in my car and the replacement one (I bought the entire assembly) had the plastic hose going from the pump to the outlet in the lid - neither had the in-line filter or the rubber hose.

The way the black hose is made with the clamps and all, it's almost as if they made it that way so if there is a fuel filter issue you can bypass the filter with the black hose and connect it right to the top of the pump. Since yours is already like this, I think I will connect mine that way and see what happens.

this may or may not help...

but on the 98 mark 8, the aftermarket pumps have the wires backwards

if you reverse the red and black wires, does it pump?

try it... you might be suprised

becareful with that pump when its "out of the tank"
in the tank there is no oxygen, so its not an issue but on your work bench you could easily have an explosion

...you've been warned
hope this helps

The new pump came with a brand new connector that had to be hard wired to the old wiring. I think it was switched around like you said because the old connector wouldn't fit into the new pump. I'm assuming that's why they sent the new one. I can hear the pump pumping fine and the flow is moving in the right direction. It just seems like something is blocking it. Are you saying that this could still cause the flow issue?

And about the explosion factor, I completely understand you and made sure I drained almost every drop of fuel back into the tank before taking it inside. I also tried to remove everything that could trigger a spark. That was the only thing that worried me about this project. Going boom.
 
Are you saying that this could still cause the flow issue?.

no, if its flowing in the correct direction my suggestion is not the issue.

when wired backwards it blows bubbles in the tank and pressurizes the tank causing bad things to happen when you open the fuel filler to "listen"
 
just for ref - here is my old and new... (before I frankenpumped it)

IMAGE_00061.jpg
 
I bypassed the filter and still the same result. The fuel just barely flows out of the pump outlet for the main fuel line for the car (small white clip). At this rate it seems it would take forever to reach the front of the car. How fast should this fuel come out of there? I was assuming fairly fast since this is supposed to be a high pressure fuel system. I have no way of knowing since I've never seen a properly working pump in action.

I am beginning to think that maybe they sold me a dud pump motor. What do you guys think? This is driving me nuts. Well I wish I was driving anyway.
 
my experience with pumps like that is the fuel will look like a garden hose at half pressure when it's pumping.

So just for fun just try wiring the pump the other way and see what happens.
 
my experience with pumps like that is the fuel will look like a garden hose at half pressure when it's pumping.

So just for fun just try wiring the pump the other way and see what happens.

I will try and swap the wires around in the morning and see what happens.
 
I reversed the wires and can hear the pump but no fuel pumps out at all now. Not even the super low flow I had and the tank is completely sealed.

Is the pump responsible for generating the fuel tank pressure or is something else? I think I may have gotten a dud pump and that will suck trying to get a replacement. A lot of lost time and going back and forth with the seller. Definitely a drawback of ebay.
 
It's either a bad bump or clogged line somewhere in the assemble.

There isn't a chance the pump is 24v is there? The would be weird.
 
nope - it's part of the REM (rear electronics module)... the only Ford I know of...

how much gas do you have? remember that the path is complex moving gas and balancing between the tanks - so you may be filling the other tank (if you ran dry).

The pressure is simply the force of the pump pushing the gas against the end of the fuel rail - in a returnless system. The FPR is on the rail and the PCM cycles the the fuel pump's duty cycle to maintain 40 PSI (at the injector nozzle) balancing the pump feed against the injectors' draw.

the 40 PSI is at the nozzle, so when measuring at the rail you have to account for manifold vacuum (which is nearly -10 PSI at idle)
 
The Pump Was Bad After All...

I appreciate everyone's help. Somehow I missed the responses. I don't remember receiving any notifications.

I ended up getting a pump from the dealer today for $250 including tax. My mother-in-law works for a huge multi-maker dealership here. Would have been $400 without her.

I put the new pump in, primed it about 3 times and vroom. Now I'm back in business. I had a feeling I got a bad pump because nothing else made sense and it should have been working.

If any of you decide to get a do-it-yerself pump kit off of ebay, I suggest you proceed with caution. The guy (global-automotive) sells defective merchandise. He has over 50,000 sales but when digging deeper through the feedback you will find several comments regarding defective parts or parts that fail after a very short time. I have tried to contact him several times with no response so I have escalated the situation with PayPal to get my money back.

Burns me up. I wasted all that time trying to figure out what was wrong and it was the frickin' pump the whole time. Then this bastard won't even have the decency to respond to the requests for some sort of resolve. He should be drug in front of all the townspeople and stoned for that one.
 

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