School me on fuel pumps

[JGood]

I'm on my third in-tank pump on my 87 325is. I'm sick of cutting my sessions on the track short due to fuel starvation from failed brand new pumps. It's not clogging, as the screens are still clean. The fail-prone design just sucks (no pun intended).

So what aftermarket options are there for a relatively stock m20 with the dual pump set up? How do most people mod the pickups to fit these aftermarket pumps?

Pics and/or write-ups, anyone?

[Toms73NovaSS]

I did a warbro hp 255lph, a bit noisy but has worked well. I got rid of the external pump.







The reason for the rubber part on the bottom of the return tube was to prevent the body of the pump from hitting the return and causing more vibration. Obviously in this pic I had not finished the wiring yet. :)

[Aptyp]

more pics and model of the pump, this may be my solution as well. lol

[JGood]

How did you get it to not leak where the wires come through? Even if you put the level sensor back in and move the wires elsewhere, it looks hard to get it to not leak.

[Tbolt]

I have been looking for better options as well, due to mine failing recently.

I found this on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/255-LPH-FUEL-PUMP-BMW-M3-E30-E36-E46-320-325-i-318-330i_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33555QQihZ002QQitemZ120291986851QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

but obviously I am skeptical, although it comes with a 1 year warrenty and claims to be near silent vs. the walbro.

thoughts?

[Ablice]

What is failing?

I'm doing a writeup that needs to be finished on why fuel pumps die.

Overheating? excessive dirt into the motor?

I do have an in-tank early style fuel pump...FS. Maybe you can send me yours, give me some $$$, and I can give a diagnostic?

[lordofthewaters]

I'd do away with the two pump setup, and move to the new style in tank pump. I'd also go oem for the pump as well, all you need to do is reconfigure the gas lines and splice the connector for the plug (maybe not as I can't remember if the trans pump has the same plug/voltage as the in tank main).

[Toms73NovaSS]

How did you get it to not leak where the wires come through? Even if you put the level sensor back in and move the wires elsewhere, it looks hard to get it to not leak.

The wires do not exit where they are in the picture. The red wire goes to where the stock power wire enters (you need to de solder the sock wire and solder the red wire to this location. The black wire I soldered on a crimped on ring and connected it to the screw you see in the pic, that is where the sock pump is grounded. Basically it hooks up to where the sock pump hooked up. Just remember if you eliminate the external pump you need to re route those wires to the internal pump location, the ones at the stock internal location are not thick enough to run the new pump.

The reason I went with the walbro hp255lph pump is that I could live with a little whine I do not want to starve my turbo at high boost when I install it. I have heard some have had problems with the TRE's failing on them that is why I did not go that route, also I have been running the the same warbro type pump in my firebird for years and never had a problem.

I got mine from www.fiveomotorsports.com I used the GSS341

[jlevie]

As to the OP's question...

The stock configuration on an 87 works just fine (assuming both pumps are good) and won't have fuel starvation issues unless something else is wrong. The first thing I always suggest is to check the bottom of the tank for a layer of sediment, which will be mostly rust on an E30 of that age. To do that, pull the in-tank pump & sensor and use a stick to stir the bottom of the tank. If there's a layer of sediment you have the cause of the starvation issues and until that's dealt with nothing is going to help.

[JGood]

As to the OP's question...

The stock configuration on an 87 works just fine (assuming both pumps are good) and won't have fuel starvation issues unless something else is wrong. The first thing I always suggest is to check the bottom of the tank for a layer of sediment, which will be mostly rust on an E30 of that age. To do that, pull the in-tank pump & sensor and use a stick to stir the bottom of the tank. If there's a layer of sediment you have the cause of the starvation issues and until that's dealt with nothing is going to help.

Like I said, the pump is dead. It doesn't spin with 12v. And it's my third new pump. The tank is clean. The filter on the pump is clean as well.

[Mr.sexymorningvoice]

im simply running a pump mounted where the external one used to be...and mine is working fine

i bought this for a cheap car...and this pump worked, assuming the in-tank is shot or something. IDK how it is workingthe way it is. But i am just running one external pump, it costs like 70 bucks or so, and im getting like 45psi up to the engine


if you want more info on it lemme know

[Mr.sexymorningvoice]

oh yea...not to mention it is a daily driver...which has been pushed. and cornered hard...but nothin compared to the track...so idk

[JGood]

oh yea...not to mention it is a daily driver...which has been pushed. and cornered hard...but nothin compared to the track...so idk

Yeah, that won't work at 1.2 g's. haha

[Mr.sexymorningvoice]

Yeah, that won't work at 1.2 g's. haha

im pretty surew ive gotten to .52 g's
lmao

what about a cell?

[JGood]

im pretty surew ive gotten to .52 g's
lmao

what about a cell?

I'd rather fix the problem. The problem is a faulty pump. I need to replace the faulty pump with a pump that will not fail. The only affordable cell would be a trunk mounted unit. Major $$$ compared to a pump, and it brings the weight up, and rearward of, the center of the car. Not good.

When the pump works, I can run the tank to nearly fumes without starvation.