Electronic fuel pump... Is it really necessary...?!

G

grifterkid

Member
On my 1974 P6B I have an electronic fuel pump... It was not an addition made by myself but it was how I bought the car. I think that it is the cause of some problems I've been having that I originally thought were to do with my ignition system. Basically at certain points that car becomes sputtery (not a realy word I know!) and loses power almost like when a car is running out of petrol...! A very helpful person on here said it may be the electronic fuel pump as they had the same problem. Now I want to revert back to the mechanical pump that it originally came with from the factory (which I will have to source)... Is it really that much better having an electronic fuel pump? Is the mechanical one really that bad? Is it easy for a mechanic to remove all the electric gubbins and fit a new (old!) mechanical fuel pump...? Any help/advice would be hugely appreciated as I'm desperate to get my brute of a V8 running sweetly once again like it did back in 1974...!!!
 
The electric pump is often an upgrade where the mechanical pump has failed for various reasons. One of these it the seal failure which allows petrol to leak in to the sump and another is wear. It is not uncommon for the cam on the timing gear which operate the pump lever to wear which would give poor or no pumping.

What you need to check is whether the pump you have is up to the job. A pump for an single carb Morris minor is not good enough for the twin SU on our V8. Other things are has it been connect and wire in correctly. Poor crimps and earths would effect performance. The other thing to check is does the pump have its own filter and when was it cleaned. Finally is the dirty in your tank/lines/fuel filter?

make sure your choke just fully off when not in use. this has caused me some problems in the past.

Also find the root cause of a fault before ripping anything apart

Colin
 
the electronic is a better fuel pump i have had loads fail on me in the past thats way i just got a new electronic 1 from wins and it works great and only cost £92 odd that inlcluding p&p and vat i would strip the 1 u got down and look at the filter and any dirt
 
You need to know whether the pump is a blower or sucker .The first fits at the rear of the car , the second at the front
 
Hello grifterkid,

If and when the conditions are such that fuel vapourisation occurs, then running just the mechanical pump will result in it being put into difficulty. A correctly positioned and running electronic pump will suffer no such problems in the same conditions.

Unless there is a fault, either with your electronic pump or in the way it and the lines have been installed, I doubt the problem that your Rover continues to experiences could be layed at it's feet.

You can of course run two pumps, as I do. Run them in series, the mechanical working solo 99% of the time, the electronic pump mounted on the boot wall beneath the tank. If and when it is needed, just switch it on, and any vapourisation which may have been stressing your mechanical pump will immediately disappear.

The mehcanical pump has no problem in pulling fuel through the switched off electronic pump.

Mechanical pumps are quite reliable and diaphragm / valve service intervals are usually 50,000 to 100,000 miles depending on how often the car is driven. Oil change frequency will influence the life expectancy of the pump arm, but when cared for correctly, you could see well over 500,000 miles without any issues.

Ron.
 
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