Walbro Fuel Pump Issues

[kinvodA]

1989 325i - 187,000 Miles

This Sunday we replaced the fuel pump with a Walbro, and replaced the fuel filter (after verifying that the appropriate relays were working). Car seemed to run fine after we disconnected/reconnected the line from the FPR to the intake. Later that night I went for a test drive and got halfway down the block before the pump (seemingly?) stopped working. It bogged down at around 3K RPM and sputtered to a stop. At the recommendation of my friend, I checked the fuses for the fuel pump 9,10,11,21 and replaced a few of them because they looked kind of sketchy. It started right up and seemed to be fine again but it was late so I waited until last night to test drive. When I did, it seemed to bog down around 3K RPM again and sputtered through the r3v range. Since it was late, I left it for the night and now am lost.

The pump seems to work but the car won't run smoothly through all RPMs and wants to die and hesitates to start, if at all. Is this a relay? I haven't re-checked them yet, or does it sound more like a vacuum leak or sensor?

Thanks,

Ryan A

[DmcL]

good timing lol

i just got back in from nearly having to be towed. was on an empty road somewhere testing some mods full throttle maps on the laptop, did a pull, slowed down and the engine just died. would turn but not start and my fuel pressure gauge was reading 0 so started thinking i killed my new-ish walbro like i killed a stock pump a couple months ago. tried to start the car plenty of times, checked all fuses and relays for toasty smells, checked nearly all connections for sensors around the engine, all seemed fine. tried to start it one more time about 15 minutes later and it fired right up and ran perfect again.

not sure wtf happened but since the fuses are all fine and the pump was only installed less than 2-3 months ago im going to pick up a spare fuel pump relay and put that in and see what happens.

[Jaxx_]

just fyi, some of the walbro pumps are being counterfitted.

http://www.dsmpurity.com/forum/showthread.php?5995-BUYER-BEWARE-Walbro-Fuel-Pump-Imposters

[nando]

that is why I just bought a stock VDO/Siemens pump.

[McGyver]

^lolocaust. buy a bosch 044, then put it inline and be done with it.

[DmcL]

just fyi, some of the walbro pumps are being counterfitted.

http://www.dsmpurity.com/forum/showt...Pump-Imposters

heard about that, mine is a genuine walbro 255lph pump.

i assumed my last OEM replacement VDO pump shit itself as i had all the symptoms hence buying the walbro. i just dug out the VDO pump and connected it up to a 12v supply and it stil lworks so that pump is still good. must be the relay starting to go..

[jlevie]

Without having hands on access to the car my suspicions would be equally split between a rusty tank and a bad pump. If you'd installed an OE pump I'd favor rust in the tank. But it could be a wiring fault or even a bad DME. A test light hooked to the pump power connections will quickly tell if the pump is loosing power.

[kinvodA]

Without having hands on access to the car my suspicions would be equally split between a rusty tank and a bad pump. If you'd installed an OE pump I'd favor rust in the tank. But it could be a wiring fault or even a bad DME. A test light hooked to the pump power connections will quickly tell if the pump is loosing power.

The pump is getting power, are you suggesting that its getting intermittent power? Something interrupting it from getting the constant power it needs? The car is in good condition, but how do I check for a rusty tank?

Thanks,
Ryan A

[Danny]

Did you check to see if its still connected to everything in the tank?

[kinvodA]

Did you check to see if its still connected to everything in the tank?

Everything plugged in snug upon installation but I will double check tonight when i get home.

[Danny]

My walbro fell out of the bracket the first time I drove it, had to get creative to mount it better, no problems since.

[kinvodA]

We mounted it pretty securely. My fear is that I bought a knock-off. I'm 3 hours deep into a 2 day self-ass-kicking punishment for buying anything remotely important off of ebay.

[DmcL]

My walbro fell out of the bracket the first time I drove it, had to get creative to mount it better, no problems since.

lol unlucky..

i trimmed the base of my cradle to let the walbro sit in there snugly. i rag on the car nearly 24/7 and havent had any issues yet.

[kinvodA]

Last night we compared the pump's sound to the genuine/fake youtube video clip on the "dsmpurity" link above and the pump sounded like the genuine pump and pulled my pump and saw that it had a bright metal finish to it, not dull like the impostor. It did come with a rubber hose, which genuine pumps are not supposed to, so i guess it went 2/3 on the genuine/fake tests. When we put everything back together it seemed to be running fine again. Just like it did on Sunday night, and not like it did on Monday. I checked the fuses agains, looked for vacuum leaks but so no reason for it to not run well. Still, I dont trust the car yet so my friend is coming by today to check everything out. It seems odd that it would be so inconsistent with no apparent outside variables, but than again, inconsistency seemed to be the trademark of the impostor pumps so maybe its a superimposter...

[Mike]

how do walbros and those bosch o44 pumps configured for the outlet side? Don't they come with a fitting that looks like it needs a "banjo" fitting on the car side? What do you do to adapt it to the oe 8mm fuel hose? If you remove that fitting from the pump, and reconfigure to accept 8mm fuel hose, you lose the check valve right?