Fuel pump

[Mustafa]

I'll be heading off on a trip thru Albania sometime in the next two month and am concerned about how I might deal with oem fuel pump failure, should it happen.

When the pump goes is it catastrophic failure, or does it usually degrade over some period of time? What are the warning signs, if any, that it is beginning to fail?

Thanks, M

[Mustafa]

....and I know about most of the replacement pumps out there, but don't really want to purchase a spare if I don't have to.

Thanks again.

[robelst]

When my pump broke is was intermittant, not completely dead all at once. Interestingly, while waiting for a replacement for a couple of weeks, it decided to work almost normal again.

When the pump started to run unreliably I noticed I could knock it back into life (I put a 12 mm socket on the top of my finger so I could tap it while driving): A bit strange and not exactly precision engineering but very helpful if you are in the middle of nowhere (on the M1 for example ).

You could by-pass the pump when it fails completely, but this will limit both the action-radius and max speed considerably (about 70 miles or 100 km at 50 mph or 80 km/h).

Not sure though if other pump-victims have different experiences?

If you are travelling far, either get a spare one (Pierburg (electrical) or Mikuni (vacuum)), or give the pump the "Tjompen-treatment": do a search on "fuel pump" for details.

Good luck

[Mustafa]

When the pump started to run unreliably I noticed I could knock it back into life (I put a 12 mm socket on the top of my finger so I could tap it while driving):

Excellent idea! Do you think a 14mm would work as well?

[robelst]

When the pump started to run unreliably I noticed I could knock it back into life (I put a 12 mm socket on the top of my finger so I could tap it while driving):

Excellent idea! Do you think a 14mm would work as well?

As long as it does not fall of your finger, probably yes. Even non-metric sizes may work :P