Fuel Pump plaooza on a 3 year old GM fuel pump

[vigman]

Greetings all....
A handy tip...Before I bought my 88 the prior owner stated he had the fuel pump changed.....But something evil was lurking in the tank....


After the So.Cal rains I thought I would light off my 88 Vert and clean all the surface rust from the rotors with a good drive with the top down. I also needed to air out the car.... some wetness got inside and things are a bit musty...

Well the batt was almost dead.. so I charged it for 20 min.. She cranked right up.. I let her warm up in the driveway for a good 15 with the A/C blasting ( to dry up the interior a bit).... I was ready to go.. I shut her down for a sec to drop the top... jumped in.. tried a restart and vroo...pa..pa.. cough stall.

Tried again.. nada
Checked spark good
Checked for SES light ... nada

Waited 2 min... put the key in RUN.. heard the realys click for prime.. nada.. crank but no fire.

I opened up the gas tank and listened for the pump whine ( using my remote starter ) NADA...


ad

Got out the test light & tried the fuel pump feed line.. that was getting power via the ECM control.. so my fusible link, fuel relay & wiring were all cool.

So out the pump came I pulled the top cover plate/Gas door lid, rubber surround, 1 connector, 3 hoses 10 ,10mm bolts and pulled the pump assy out ( remembering that you have to turn the assy as your pulling up & do the fun angle the assy as well, a bit of a snake charmer dance.)

After draining all the fuel out of the pump I closley inspected the pump assy & bench tested the pump.. I applied 12 volts to the two pins ( Grey + Black-)

NADA....

But hooking power DIRECTLY to the pump motor itself.. WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Upon closer inspection the bulkhead connector ( from the top of the fuel pump assy going into the tank) was a bit melty( and that's being KIND ).. not good.. Mr Ohm meter verified my findings.. as well as the little tan RF supressor had OPENED UP electrically..... so finding 3 pieces of heavier gauge wire (purple for the sender, Grey for Pump +, Black for pump -) I tore out the female connector that connected to the bulkhead ( male ) connector..

I prepped the pins by lightly filing them with a jewelers file.. tinning them with my iron and soldering the new wires on.. then I used shrink tube to seal the connection.. I put the 3 lines through a short piece of fuel hose 5/16 so it wouldn't rattle around nor chafe against the holding bracket that the RF supressor was held captive in.. and secured that with some stainless steel wire.

I then butt spliced the new wires to the old.. secured those to the fuel pump output pipe.... double checked EVERYTHING... bench tested the pump for function.. we were good to go...



20 minutes later ( after doing the fuel pump snake charmer dance a 2nd time)

I pressed the remote start button.. heard the click and the sweet sound of the WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....... and VROOM.....

I repeated the start test 5 or so times and she purrs like a dream.

So about 2 hrs from Oh Dag nabbit.. to putting the last tools away.

Cost.. about 6 inches of solder oh and 5 O rings.. the bolts around the gas tank assy flange have O rings around them.. 1/2 half of mine were missing.

I hope this helps someone else out there save a few bucks....

BTW
I haven't been here for a while due to many factors one of which is helping my youngest son with his 175.00 92 Camaro... more on that to follow.

Vig~

 

[nyernga]

I haven't been here for a while due to many factors one of which is helping my youngest son with his 175.00 92 Camaro... more on that to follow.

Vig~

And your expertise has been sorely missed....... Glad to have ya back buddy................

Len

 

[G Winter]

Thanks for the tip. I, and I am sure many others, will not forget that piece of information.

 

[Ken]

Thanks Mike. Glad to see you back, and active!

 

[JonM]

WB...Motorhead...

 

[WhalePirot]

I was wondering where you'd gone. Welcome back, fellow Mike.