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THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHFuel pump dead
Leading reported evidence
Lubricate by the fuel
Suggestion or failed attempt
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
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1
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Suggestion
The pump is only lubricated by the fuel that is pumped through it so it should have been fine IMHO, but your range may be out slightly and if there was some cornering involved it may have pumped dry.
Leading evidence: 'Lubricate by the fuel' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Lubricate by the fuel' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Suggestion
It genuinely is very easy to change but most get scared because fuel is involved, your battery is removed anyway so not much chance of a spark.
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Suggestion
If changing the pump you may need to be re-calibrate the range, this was highlighted by deMort on my fuel tank thread.
Run but the pumping stage will not raise pressure enough
Suggestion or failed attempt
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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Suggestion
As far as I am aware the pump as fitted to high pressure systems uses the fuel as both lubrication and cooling for the pump head, thus if run without fuel or intermittent spurts of fuel it can damage the pumping mechanism, the pump may still run but the pumping stage will not raise pressure enough to feed the injectors.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
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Suggestion
As mentioned the pump uses the fuel to lubricate, where the pump draws fuel up through the screen filter at its base its only about 5mm gap between that and the tank base, so even 15 miles worth of fuel (2- 3 litres) (plus there is usually a get out of jail amount of fuel after this) so should still be enough fuel in the tank.
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Lubricate by the fuel
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
The pump is only lubricated by the fuel that is pumped through it so it should have been fine IMHO, but your range may be out slightly and if there was some cornering involved it may have pumped dry.
Run but the pumping stage will not raise pressure enough
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
As far as I am aware the pump as fitted to high pressure systems uses the fuel as both lubrication and cooling for the pump head, thus if run without fuel or intermittent spurts of fuel it can damage the pumping mechanism, the pump may still run but the pumping stage will not raise pressure enough to feed the injectors.
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
As mentioned the pump uses the fuel to lubricate, where the pump draws fuel up through the screen filter at its base its only about 5mm gap between that and the tank base, so even 15 miles worth of fuel (2- 3 litres) (plus there is usually a get out of jail amount of fuel after this) so should still be enough fuel in the tank.
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion
As far as I am aware the pump as fitted to high pressure systems uses the fuel as both lubrication and cooling for the pump head, thus if run without fuel or intermittent spurts of fuel it can damage the pumping mechanism, the pump may still run but the pumping stage will not raise pressure enough to feed the injectors.
Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
11 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
911uk: 1 discussions
0 evidence records excluded for query context · 0 excluded by outcome qualification · 0 adjusted by outcome qualification.
1 acknowledgements have no verified action link; they do not establish a repair result.
Outcome without a verified action link
a lot of cars prime the fuel system so it's ready to fire up , a short 2 second burst from cold will make no difference though.
Another weekend another unexpected expense... coming down the A14, car starts spluttering (I may have been a bit optimistic on range - but it was showing 15 miles left!!) and dies on me (thankfully off the road - at a petrol station). Filled up but wouldn't start again. As time progressed, it was less and less enthusiastic to fire. Local place diagnosed dead fuel pump. Could I have killed it by running it too low ?
Lesson learned... yet another expensive one :/
cvega, sorry to read that your fuel pump appears to have failed...
As far as I am aware the pump as fitted to high pressure systems uses the fuel as both lubrication and cooling for the pump head, thus if run without fuel or intermittent spurts of fuel it can damage the pumping mechanism, the pump may still run but the pumping stage will not raise pressure enough to feed the injectors.
If you ever again get to the stage where you think you have run out of fuel to save the pump switch off the ignition immediately and do not switch it on again until you have put fuel back in the tank.
Though from a poor memory the above might be difficult given Ian has told the forum that some fuel pumps are activated when the door handle is operated to pre-prime the fuel system to aid a quick start up...???
So best not to get into the habit of not going much below a quarter tank or so..?
@ Luddite
Yup .. a lot of cars prime the fuel system so it's ready to fire up , a short 2 second burst from cold will make no difference though.
I must admit i didn't think about the heat factor on these pumps when fuel runs low .. a very probable cause on an old pump the more i think about it ..
Very nice answer that has taught me a thing or 2 .
:thumb:
C4 / Turbo work on a scavenge system that draws fuel from the saddles to the pump so a continual supply until it runs out .
As mentioned the pump uses the fuel to lubricate, where the pump draws fuel up through the screen filter at its base its only about 5mm gap between that and the tank base, so even 15 miles worth of fuel (2- 3 litres) (plus there is usually a get out of jail amount of fuel after this) so should still be enough fuel in the tank.
The pump is only lubricated by the fuel that is pumped through it so it should have been fine IMHO, but your range may be out slightly and if there was some cornering involved it may have pumped dry.
If changing the pump you may need to be re-calibrate the range, this was highlighted by deMort on my fuel tank thread.
It genuinely is very easy to change but most get scared because fuel is involved, your battery is removed anyway so not much chance of a spark.
I've got it down to less than an hours work with the amount of times I've had it out/in. I found Marigold gloves are fuel resistant.
yeah, it's handling the fuel that is the most tricky, I suppose.
I'll keep an eye on fuel level vs mileage and see how it goes. As I mentioned, this was by far the furthest i went on a tank (almost 320 miles) while my previous average would be 250-270.
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