Walbro fuel pump failure?
09-07-2015, 07:54 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Walbro fuel pump failure?
Just wanted to see if anyone has had any failures with the Wabro 450 fuel pumps. It appears I just had one go out on me today. I am using a single Walbro 450. It was essentially new as it was installed earlier this year in April and had just over 2200 miles on it. I've never had any issues with the pump prior to today.
I stopped by a gas station to top off the tank and when I go to start the car the engine would turn over and sputter for a second or two and die. I was right near our race shop and one of the techs came over to the gas station to help trouble shoot the problem. It quickly became apparent that we had a fuel feed issue. We initially thought that maybe the fuel pump relay had gone bad but that was not the case. I am using the SRM fuel kit where the fuel pump is wired directly off the battery via a relay. We checked the relay and even bypassed it with a jumper and nothing. The fuel pump was dead. By bypassing the relay we were basically powering the pump directly by the battery. The tech told me that most likely the fuel pump has a few dead spots in it and thus you get a failure only after shutting the car off but everything is fine while the pump is running. He said often times you can tap the pump and it comes back to life.
Since I was only about a mile away, we just decided to tow the car to the shop with the tech's truck. While getting towed to the shop on a relatively bumpy road, I figured I'd try to start to car in case the tech was correct about vibration or shock sometimes jarring the pump back to life. I turned the key and voila, car fired right up. At the next light, we disconnected the tow strap from the car and I drove it to the shop. When I got there, I shut the car down and restarted it a few time without issues. We even jumped the relay and could hear the pump running in the tank confirming it's operation. The pump sounded healthy with no unusual noises. After a few phone calls, I figured I'd drive the car home and bring it in next week to get the pump replaced and again it would not start. We again bypassed the fuel pump relay with a jumper and not surprisingly, the pump was dead. This basically isolated the problem to the pump unless I'm missing something. If anyone has any thoughts or inputs on this predicament, feel free to chime in.
This leads me to the question if anyone has had an issue with the 450s. Finally, what is a reputable source for Walbros? I understand the market is saturated with virtually indistinguishable Chinese knockoffs. I need to get a replacement pump ASAP as I have an event this weekend.
Thanks!
I stopped by a gas station to top off the tank and when I go to start the car the engine would turn over and sputter for a second or two and die. I was right near our race shop and one of the techs came over to the gas station to help trouble shoot the problem. It quickly became apparent that we had a fuel feed issue. We initially thought that maybe the fuel pump relay had gone bad but that was not the case. I am using the SRM fuel kit where the fuel pump is wired directly off the battery via a relay. We checked the relay and even bypassed it with a jumper and nothing. The fuel pump was dead. By bypassing the relay we were basically powering the pump directly by the battery. The tech told me that most likely the fuel pump has a few dead spots in it and thus you get a failure only after shutting the car off but everything is fine while the pump is running. He said often times you can tap the pump and it comes back to life.
Since I was only about a mile away, we just decided to tow the car to the shop with the tech's truck. While getting towed to the shop on a relatively bumpy road, I figured I'd try to start to car in case the tech was correct about vibration or shock sometimes jarring the pump back to life. I turned the key and voila, car fired right up. At the next light, we disconnected the tow strap from the car and I drove it to the shop. When I got there, I shut the car down and restarted it a few time without issues. We even jumped the relay and could hear the pump running in the tank confirming it's operation. The pump sounded healthy with no unusual noises. After a few phone calls, I figured I'd drive the car home and bring it in next week to get the pump replaced and again it would not start. We again bypassed the fuel pump relay with a jumper and not surprisingly, the pump was dead. This basically isolated the problem to the pump unless I'm missing something. If anyone has any thoughts or inputs on this predicament, feel free to chime in.
This leads me to the question if anyone has had an issue with the 450s. Finally, what is a reputable source for Walbros? I understand the market is saturated with virtually indistinguishable Chinese knockoffs. I need to get a replacement pump ASAP as I have an event this weekend.
Thanks!
