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DannyP

Fuel pump - mechanical vs electric?

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Hi guys,

 

My '92 XF van (250 carby) came with an aftermarket Facet electric fuel pump - which makes a deafening ticking noise when ignition is on/car is running. The car is running but has trouble starting and takes a while to sit at a comfortable idle - I'm putting it down to the pump not delivering the required amount of fuel + carby needs a service + possibly some other things (choke etc.) that may need looking at. But one thing's for sure, the fuel pump has had it and needs replacing.

 

But: should I just replace with a new electric unit? Or: should I change it back to the old mechanical pump? The mech pump is still there - someone has just blanked it off and left it on the engine - but I assume it's cactus and will need replacing. Either way, they cost about the same to buy. But which is better and why?

 

Thanks!

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The mechanical pumps are very repairable. Pull it off and check the lever for wear then try with a mirror and torch to see if the cam is OK.

If all good Repco should have a diaphragm kit for it. The hard part will be getting the fuel pipe from pump to carby.

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if the engine is the original to the car i'd get another mechanical pump or hook it up and see if it works. 

only reason i mention original, is if it's from an EFI car (or the cam is) then they don't have a fuel pump lobe..

 

if you do choose to try the mechanical pump on it, beware it's not leaking fuel into the oil/sump..  some were rebuildable some were not

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To my knowledge, all the aftermarket (FPM-008 or similar)

XE/XF crossflow mechanical (canister style) fuel pumps, are made by Daewha in Korea.

Even the last of Ford's 'Genuine' over-counter spare parts canister pumps, were the Korean ones.

 

Buy on price.

 

To my knowledge, rebuild kits were only available for the earlier XC/XD non-canister style pumps.

 

The aftermarket Goss brand crossflow fuel pump, is a non-canister style (non-rebuildable though).

In my experience, this style pump can cause extended crank-times/hard starting, due to lack of the canister/fuel reservoir.

 

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They were a hardline pipe from pump to carb.

You will NOT be able to get a rebuild kit from Repco, but fair chance they'll have a complete pump.

Even if you could get a rebuild kit it would be
x2 or x3 the price of the new pump.

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Usually all fuel line is 90% hard tube. It stops the damage from tools, rocks, weather etc... You NEED a definite rubber connection because the engine rocks back and forth, and the chassis doesn't. There's typically a rubber line into the fuel sender, and one into the carb/fuel inlet. The square Facet pumps are a "push" pump, they need to be mounted as close to the fuel tank as practicable, not in the engine bay (where it has to "pull" fuel up). 

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That’s what I figured bear351. I think someone has been lazy in the past with just about everything on this car. The Facet pump has been mounted in the engine bay and up high too... go figure.

Ok, looks like I’ll be restoring the mechanical pump (by replacing it with a Goss or Fuelmiser - very available). I’ll pay my local X-series wrecker a visit an see if I can scavenge the relevant hardlines. If they’re difficult to find, rubber hose will do until I manage to get some.


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Usually all fuel line is 90% hard tube. It stops the damage from tools, rocks, weather etc... You NEED a definite rubber connection because the engine rocks back and forth, and the chassis doesn't. There's typically a rubber line into the fuel sender, and one into the carb/fuel inlet. The square Facet pumps are a "push" pump, they need to be mounted as close to the fuel tank as practicable, not in the engine bay (where it has to "pull" fuel up). 
I can vouch 100% for the facet pump thing. I initially mounted mine in the engine bay, but with it having to suck fuel up from the back, plus through a couple of feet of head, it was noisy as fck.

It was basically cavitating and not pumping sufficiently to feed enough fuel. It needed a boat fuel primer bulb inline to initially prime it too. I then moved it into the spare tyre well just above the tank, and that worked and was much quieter, but it was a pain if I had to get access to it (it started screwing up by then). It would get going again with a smack, but it was getting quite hot.

I finally mounted it below the passenger floor, just where there's a hose junction between the steel pipes. It's audible with engine off, but being low-mounted, it's always being gravity-fed.

The genuine Facet pump finally shit itself spectacularly on the way to the beach, and I gave up trying to pull it down and keep it alive after 3 times it had stopped. I Uber-ed it (with my kids) to an Auto One where I got a chinese-made Goss unit for 50 bucks.l, fitted it on the side of the road, and continued to the beach.

I then read up about these Facet pumps and there seems to have been a bad batch 5-10 years ago, which sucks because I deliberately went with a more expensive US made unit and dodged the Chinese versions, just for the reliability.

The Goss has been going fine for a couple of years now, much better than the "US-made" Facet. It's still mounted under the passenger footwell. At 50 bucks (probably more now though), I might just buy a spare to keep in the car.

Re: the steel tubing for fuel line... I suspect that not only is it more durable, but probably cheaper to make and less clamping is needed to mount it under the chassis.

Sent from my CPH2197 using Tapatalk

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Righto thanks gerg... definitely not sold on the electric pump thing. Sounds like more trouble than they’re worth.

Do you mind me asking why you installed one in the first place?


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Righto thanks gerg... definitely not sold on the electric pump thing. Sounds like more trouble than they’re worth.

Do you mind me asking why you installed one in the first place?


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I was sus about the mechanical one for a while, it seemed a bit flimsy and had trouble sealing on the flares. When I did my power steer pump install, I custom-mounted it with my own brackets and the tensioner bolt runs off a blanking plate where the fuel pump was. So I was kinda forced to go to an electric one anyway. I like the one in it now, going strong thus far. I can disable it by pulling a fuse or connector as an extra thief-deterrent.

Sent from my CPH2197 using Tapatalk

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