Technical Can I Expect

Can I expect that new replacement mechanical fuel pumps are built from material that will handle todays gasoline? The pump I put in 5 yrs ago seems like its going bad, heck the original pump lasted 42 years! Is there a proffered brand or is it a **** shoot?

 

I don't know if it has anything to do with todays gas but I just replaced one that was leaking out of the crimp for a little while after the car hadn't been driven for a week or so. Once the rubber had been wet for a while, it stopped leaking. I replaced it with one that is screwed together rather than crimped.

Gary

 

The way it is with parts these days, I’d be inclined to pull one that fits out of an old vehicle at the wrecking yard, would probably last as long as a new one. My truck is 60 years old and the pump looks to be original and still working, I have 2 of them so I should be good ; )

 

You can’t expect it to work when they are new let alone put conditions on them working…

 

Mine have been averaging about 2 years.
Chain store.
They just hand me another one.

 

If it has this style of check valves, you can expect trouble. The mushroom valve stems distorted, as well as the plastic plate. This caused a "no pump" condition.





This one has the older style bakelite disk check valves which last forever, but the diaphragm failed.



Both are modern replacements, but the first one I special ordered from England as it is a "screw together" type pump, so rebuildable (or so I thought until I found the nasty bits inside).

I ended up using one of the check valves from the second pump, and made up one new valve from scratch, to get a functioning pump.

 

I've resorted to running an electric pump inline with the mechanical pump on a few of them...the new gas does more than just eat up parts if you let it sit, it also vapor locks more easily.

 

I'm running a stock Carter in my SBC I got from Summit. I really should buy another and keep it in the trunk. I have 15,000 miles on this one.

 

I have a " few" of those , " I'll get an extra one for when I need it " parts here and there , some for over 20 years , at which point some have deteriorated from age ! Don't buy it if you don't need it , that's my advice .

 

Put a new mechanical fuel pump on my SBC Suburban, and a year later it quit again. It was a NAPA brand rebuilt, so no idea who does theirs. I went to the local chain store and bought another, and it's been on the engine about 5 yrs. now, and still works.

 

i have found the "two year" lifespan seems to be the norm. I went through my model a a few years back, replaced all the moving twenty year old parts, which included some rubber. Two years later, the fuel hoses were rock hard.

 

using fuel hose that's specified "for efi" is a good idea these days, it costs a lot more but doesn't degrade as quickly.