ignatz

Just stalled out my ford vic with 4.6 liter motor. With ether it starts -
is the pump on this car a common problem ,and is it worth doing on a car
with 238K on it? Ran fine until now- any help is appreciated. thanx,
bob d.

trainfan1

Electric pumps always fail sometime. Many forget when we drove cars 70
or 80 thousand miles and junked them - and we replaced the mechanical
fuel pumps much more often over the life of the vehicle.

It's just harder now, the tank has to be dropped out. Get a repair
figure & decide if it's worth it!

Rob

el bandito

Why are they buiding them like that? Why not provide an opening in the
trunk to change it? My 79 Celica was like that (i dunno about my other
cars, didn't have to change the pump in those)

Dropping the tank to change something that took 10 minutes before is not
consumer-friendly...

--
Don't drink water, fish have *** in it!

tom adkins

Actually, the pump in a CV doesn't require removing the tank. The pump/sender is
mounted through the front of the tank facing the axle. It's a bit tight and I prefer
doing it on a lift, but if you get it off the ground enough, you don't have to R&R the
tank.
The reason for :good:access in earlier "in tank pump" cars is for the reason you
described. They were prone to failure. Once the design proved itself, there was no
need for access during the expected life of the car. These days, fuel pump failures
normally occur near or long after the expected life expectancy of a vehicle. In my
experience, long after most times. You should expect to drop the tank on a 12-15 YO
vehicle with a bad fuel pump. Just as you would expect to pull the motor on the same
vehicle with a rod knock.
I'm waiting for the "low pressure" pump in the tank of my 84 Lincoln Mark VII to
fail. I rue the day it happens, but after 24 years it's still doing what it's supposed
to do. That car carries me through a 100 mile per day commute. If the pump died
tomorrow, I don't owe it a dime at 148K miles and would count myself lucky. I'd whine
about the downtime and likely the bill, but when all is said and done, it was a minor
blip in the cost of ownership of that vehicle.

el bandito

Yeah, it's probably why I never had to change a fuel pump except on one...


If it's anything like my friend's '78 Continental, those cars just don't
seem to break

--
Don't drink water, fish have *** in it!

lugnut

Have you tried resetting the inertia switch left side of
trunk?

Lugnut

paul of dayton

Hey Tom - I did one of those on my '84 T-Bird Elan. Not too bad as long as
the tank is about empty. I just backed her up on a good set of ramps. Some
access thru the trunk, BTW, big rubber plug. More aggravating was when the
fuel line coming from the pump rusted a couple of pinholes thru. I smelled
gas and couldn't find it. When I did find it nobody could get a sending
unit for a week. I sealed the entire tube in epoxy and changed the fuel
filter. I drove that car 185k before it gave up and still miss it...

PoD

ignatz

Hi! Yes, I found the inertia switch, and it worked! I will always remember
this- thanx for all the advice. bob

lugnut

Cheaper and easier than a fuel pump!!

Lugnut