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How To Change a fuel pump / fix a car that dies on corners

69K views 126 replies 56 participants last post by  MemnochtheDevil 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
You will be working with the fuel system of the vehicle. Since gasoline is explosive there is always the chance you can blow yourself up, or start a really nice fire if you don't follow common sense. This is the same commen sense they were supposed to teach you in grade school so let's hope you learned it well.

It's not my fault in any way if you blow yourself up, break stuff, or start a really nice fire.

Locate the fuel cut-off switch in the trunk of the vehicle, and flip the tab up so it is in the off position. Start the car and let it run until it dies. This should only take a few seconds.

Disconnect the battery


Remove your back seat


Undo the fuel cap to relieve fuel tank pressure


Remove the access cover and undo the fuel pump harness


Pull out the tabs and disconnect the fuel lines. Tie them back. Keep track of which one is which or you will have issues when you go to start the car again. Clean the area around the locking ring.


Using a hammer and a non-ferrous punch (aluminium-hardworrd-copper or anything tough and non-sparking), undo the locking ring turning counter clockwise. Remove the pump from the tank. Be careful to not allow any debris to fall into the tank. It will require some wigglage to get the pump out around the fuel level sending unit as well. Take your time and be patient, it does come out.

The entire sending unit.


To change the fuel pump is quite simple once you get the strainer off as it is in there quite hard to remove. After that just slide the pulsator assembly up on the tube, disconnect the wires and replace with a new pump.

The fuel pulsator mod, why the car dies on corners

If your car:

-Sputters with less than 1/4 tank of fuel and is fine anyother time
-You experience a huge loss of power or your car dies when taking on-ramps/exit ramps or sharp corners

...than this mod is probably for you.

You can see from this end pic how the grey seal isn't sealing too well. What happens is as the pump moves back and forth in the tank it distorts these seals causing fuel pressure to bleed down. Once it gets bad enough it will bleed enough pressure that you feel anything from a lack of power to a complete stall. You can see in the pic above how I originally had a zip tie wrapped around the fuel pump to restrain any excess movement. With the movement gone the car ran much better, but not as good as it was about to.


I went to my local parts store hoping to easily get a replacement. I managed to get a Carter part number, but the part is discontinued. Ford will only sell you the entire sending unit. Seeing as how I just shelled out some coin on a new fuel pump thinking it was the problem, I was not about to spend double that on a sending unit from Ford.

The solution, hose!!!!

The pulsator acts as a vibration damper, basicallly an acumulator for the fuel system to help reduce shock loads on the pump. Seeing as how the fuel system is already equipped with a pressure regulator which also helps reduce shock, it seemed kind of redundant and I could find no other reasons for it being there. I couldn't seen any harm in replacing it with a piece of hose, so I did.

You have to be careful what kind of hose you use. Notice the yellow tinge/coating on the hose. This is because it is wax impregnated fuel injection hose. The wax helps repel the gasoline and extend the rubber hoses life while in the tank. Regular rubber hose will degrade or go "skunky" after a few months when left submerged in fuel. This is 5/16" fuel injection hose rated at 65psi, more than enough for stock applications. If you're running higer fuel systems pressures than that, you're probably more than smart enough to get a higher pressure hose for your application.

A couple of clamps, and in she went. Micky mouse zip tie removed.


Installation is the reverse of removal. Once you get the sending unit in and hooked up, you may want to hook the harnesses, fuel lines, and battery back up. Reset the fuel cutout switch and take it for a drive without the access panel or rear seat in. This will give you a visual indication if the tank ring seal is leaking or not. If it's good and dry, with the car off disconnect the harness, re-install the cover and rear seat and your good to go. If it leaks, re-check the tank seal to ensure it is seated properly, it can be trying to put in. If everything appears fine, you may either need a new tank seal or new locking ring.

I have had this in my car in excess of a year and a half time with no problems. This includes exposure to the occaisional bottle of injector cleaner. Also, my car sat with the same tank of fuel (with stabilizer) for 4 full months, probably the worst thing you can do with fuel components is to let them sit for long periods of time with the same degrading fuel. Not a single problem to date, this car runs like it was new :wink:

Matt 8)

EDITED to add additional reference link to a discussion, and repair of same fault.
http://www.feoa.net/threads/97-escort-randomly-stalls.106121/
 
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#3 ·
Great how-to matt... the pictures sure help out a lot also.
 
#4 ·
4d_Me said:
i had to do this, then went through 2 fuel pumps within the next 2 months in other cars, fixed those and it happen again in a 4th car, my luck sux!
With all those fuel pump changes shurely you at least got somewhat high off the fumes. That would have made it not suck for at least a little bit :p :D :wink:

Matt 8)
 
#5 ·
good how to on changing the pump.

my GT has AWFUL problems with fuel when it gets to 1/4 tank or less. bogs/stalls on right turns, sometimes bogs going straight.

thing is, i had to seal my pump assembly to the tank with Seal-All, and that stuff dries super hard, so i may have to chisel or dremal it off.
 
#6 ·
ok ok, so youve done this and there were no adverse effects ???? because nothing cheezes me off like taking a hard 90 degree corner and halfway through bam no power, it just laggs

then my turn looks horrible i come in hard and tight then halfway through totally let off then give it again, man it annoys me, but only happens when im taking turns hard. But i have coilover suspension, strut and tie bars ---- hell ya im going to be giving it, so i will definetly be doing this mod


thanks i really didnt know what caused this now i will fix it

oh and after you do that is it pretty easy to drop the fuel tank down ?????? id like to clean out my tank while im at it, and install my harnesses for the seats too, just scared that if i drill ill hit the tank

thanks for the good howto

any reasons why i shouldnt do this?

oh and what year rx7 can i take the fuel pump from ??? is it only the turbo version i should use??? or should i not even bother unless im turbo ing my lady
 
#8 ·
Whitie_Bear said:
ok ok, so youve done this and there were no adverse effects ???? because nothing cheezes me off like taking a hard 90 degree corner and halfway through bam no power, it just laggs
No adverse effects to date.

Whitie_Bear said:
oh and after you do that is it pretty easy to drop the fuel tank down ?????? id like to clean out my tank while im at it, and install my harnesses for the seats too, just scared that if i drill ill hit the tank
IMO I wouldn't drop the tank unless I had to. The bolts will be rusted to hell and most likely strip/shear. For sure something would break. You would need new tank straps for sure if it's never been off before. When you pull the sending unit, hold a "good" trouble light (one that has a history of not sparking) above the tank. More than likely won't see anything in the tank. When I had mine out for a 9 year old car at the time it was mint inside. Unless you have a history of running bad fuel I don't think you need to flush the tank.

If you're scared of hitting the tank, you can wedge a sheet of steel between the tank and the frame in the area you are drilling for protection instead of droping the tank.

Whitie_Bear said:
any reasons why i shouldnt do this?
No :D

Matt 8)
 
#10 ·
The 3 door back seat pops out with the same 2 clips the 5 doors do. In fact, the rear seats are identical. The only thing is with a few less doors access isn't as wide open. So yes, it pops out just like that.

Matt 8)
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the posting work Matt. However, I'm a bit confused. It looks like you are replacing what looks like a beige cylindrical piece with two grey/black looking pieces on the end of it, right? Is that hard plastic? Now, the replacement looks like it's thinner than the part replaced. To be honest with you, I don't see how the original or replacement piece is keeping something from moving. It looks like it's not leaning or rubbing against anything. How is this flexible hose doing its job? How was the original piece keeping the pump from moving around? Please clarify. Those pics are such a great help - incredible help!
 
#17 ·
Matt, I am in your debt. LOL My car just started doing this crap and now I have a fix for it because of your how-to!!! WOOT!
 
#18 ·
i just did this mod like 10 minutes ago

scort is running great, it was weird though because when i removed the access panel, the fuel tank was COVERED in dirt, gravel and plant fluff

i vacumed so much shite out i was worried, looks like ill have to take the gravel roads a bit slower ahahaha


and i tested this setup on a very hard 90 degree turn, and i took it fast, she bogged a tiny bit (may have been because i was low on gas) but never bogged like it used to id say it made a 80% improvement

but then again when are you pulling 90 degree turns, and i never had a problem wiith engine bogging in normal turns before, only the hard ones, and when it bogged the whole thing basically shut down, almost died

anywho, i say this was the easiest thing ive done for this car in a while, took about a hour, everything went smooth besides the dirt.
 
#19 ·
i just did this mod like 10 minutes ago

scort is running great, it was weird though because when i removed the access panel, the fuel tank was COVERED in dirt, gravel and plant fluff

i vacumed so much shite out i was worried, looks like ill have to take the gravel roads a bit slower ahahaha


and i tested this setup on a very hard 90 degree turn, and i took it fast, she bogged a tiny bit (may have been because i was low on gas) but never bogged like it used to id say it made a 80% improvement

but then again when are you pulling 90 degree turns, and i never had a problem wiith engine bogging in normal turns before, only the hard ones, and when it bogged the whole thing basically shut down, almost died

anywho, i say this was the easiest thing ive done for this car in a while, took about a hour, everything went smooth besides the dirt.
 
#26 ·
I got around to doing the job too at about the same time that the WhiteBear dude did it. I would also have to say that it also made an 80% imporovement. It's more than worth the effort. However, I'm a bit disappointed that it didn't work completely. It doesn't turn off anymore on hard right turns at all! I'm surprised it doesn't even turn off on faster curve turns. However, if I'm really low on gas and am going up those very circular on-ramps, it still turns off. I know I put the same size hose on right and tightened the clamps well. I really needed to change the whole unit. AutoZone sells a remanufactured replacement for only $62. The reason I needed to actually replace is that the filter on it, that costs $10, looks pretty dirty and the arm that measures the gas doesn't start working untill the car is just above the 1/4 tank mark. It stays on "F" all the time until it gets to just above a quarter tank then suddenly goes quickly to that mark and starts reading correctly. I guess that's when you really need it anyway. It's just that I wanted to see this How-To work out of curiousity. I wanted to see if the hose alone, without replacing the whole pump, would actually work. If it wasn't for the gauge, I would actually open it up and change the filter and not buy another one. The risk is that it would stay the same and then I still have a bad gauge. If you have no other problems, this is a great 80% solution. If your filter is dirty or your gas gauge doesn't read right, you should just replace the whole unit even if more than $62 in your area. What the heck is the little metal round part on the removed part for?
 
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