Electric fuel pumps are cooled as well as lubricated by the fuel flowing
thru them... When you start to suck air, The pumps overheats and wears
out rapidly...
Moral time: If you know when your Fiero runs out of gas, ALWAYS
fuel up at least 40 miles b4 you know you will be out of gas. Fuel pumps are
rather Xpensive!
From: William Wassenaar
I think this is the problem we are having trying to
understand the oil pressure/fuel pump relay. The fuel pump
is not subsequently kept running by the circuit made through
the oil pressure switch..... unless the fuel pump relay
fails.
The ECM energizes the fuel pump relay again after startup
(after it "reads" a certain RPM from the distributor).
The oil pressure switch is a back-up for the fuel pump
relay circuits
To prove this I want you all to go out and start your Fieros
and unplug the oil pressure switch. Your Fiero will now
still be running.
From: Scott Backer
Removal - all models
- First, remove the fuel tank.
- There are three rings on the top of the fuel tank. The outer ring is the
tank itself, and the inner ring is the fuel pump/sender assembly. The middle
ring is a "lock" which you have to turn to get out. The
Haynes manual
suggests using a rubber mallet so you don't make a spark against something
metal, which could be a bad thing to do to a fuel tank. :)
- Get your "gas-catching can" ready again for the next step.
- Carefully pull the fuel pump/sender assembly out. You will have to turn
it sideways a bit to get the float out.
- Remove the electrical connector from the fuel pump.
- Pull the strainer off of the bottom of the fuel pump. You may not be
able to get it off, and have to just rip it off. This is fine as long as
you have a new strainer as well as a new fuel pump.
- Push UP on the fuel pump (into the rubber cylinder thing on top of it)
enough to tilt the bottom out of the holder, then just pull it out.
More fuel will probably come out of the pump itself while you are doing this.
- Install the new fuel pump the same way you took the old one out. Push
the new strainer onto the bottom, and reinstall the electrical connector.
- Put the new pump back in the tank.
The Haynes manual reccommends that
you replace the gasket at the top of the fuel pump if it is not in good
condition. Mine looked fine, so I didn't. (my car has 90K miles)
I found it easier to put the "locking ring" back in using the plastic end of
two screwdrivers, and putting one on a tab on each side and pushing them at
the same time.
From: Sketch
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