Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

[AutoVation]

Sy has left me stranded 2x in the last 2 weeks.

Here's the story:

1. Driving along and accelerating at a good pace (75% of max) and the truck just cuts out and coast to stop.
2. Try starting it like 20 times... the check gauges light is flashing and the truck won't start.
3. Let truck sit for 20 minutes and it still won't start.
4. Get truck towed to mechanic.
5. Mechanic says fuel pump went out.
6. Order Walbro 255 pump.
7. Mechanic installs pump and truck runs great. Pump actually fixed a lot of other small issues that were going on (stuttering being the main one!). Truck runs better than ever before.
8. One week later I'm driving uphill and truck shuts off on me again.
9. Try starting it like 20 times... the check gauges light is flashing and the truck won't start.
10. Electrical seem fine and this is what happened the first time it died.
11. I let it rest for 5 minutes and try starting again. This time it starts!
12. Drive for 3 minutes... truck dies again. :rant: :rotf: :rant:
13. Get truck towed to mechanic again
14. Mechanic was able to start truck when it got to their shop
15. Mechanic says fuel pump is not putting out enough pressure? He wants to replace the pump again. (i'm trying to get him on the phone right now but no luck).

So... based on searches from SyTy.net, I was going to have him check the ECM connections and the coil. Maybe replace the oil pressure switch? Any help before I call would be much appreciated!

 

[Merk]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

check ecmb fuses. swap 10a for 15a.

either way, its the mechanics bill this time around, RIGHT?

 

[canadian]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

Had something similar on mine where the pump would run one day and not the next... turned out to be the wiring on the hanger that leads to the pump was not working correctly. Bought a replacement at AutoZone and it's been fine since. Have him take the pump out and connect it directly to 12 volts. If it runs, it might not be the pump.

 

[AutoVation]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

check ecmb fuses. swap 10a for 15a.

either way, its the mechanics bill this time around, RIGHT?

It's the mechanics bill unless the Walbro pump is bad.

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

I had a walbro die in less than a tank of gas, but it was also over 2 year period.

 

[turbodig]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

Rapidly flashing Check engine means the ECM has lost it's brain.
This is usually due to a bad connection internal to the ECM, or a bad connection on an aftermarket chip. (like an ultimate)

 

[AutoVation]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

Rapidly flashing Check engine means the ECM has lost it's brain.
This is usually due to a bad connection internal to the ECM, or a bad connection on an aftermarket chip. (like an ultimate)

The check engine light is different than the check gauges light right? Since the truck isn't here I can't just run out and check. :squint:

 

[AutoVation]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

Update, they said they ran power and ground directly to the pump and it starts out great and then just starts slowly dying. Sounds like the pump will need to be replaced. Does Walbro help out any with the labor since their part was apparently bad?

EDIT: My question is... how does a fuel pump warming up cause it to go bad? Does a fuel pump actually warm up? It shut down after 15 minutes of driving. Does it take 15 minutes to warm up a fuel pump? Wouldn't either work or not work? I'm not understanding the mechanism of failure here.

 

[canadian]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

power from where? is it possible whatever they are using to power it is running out of juice?

 

[AutoVation]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

power from where? is it possible whatever they are using to power it is running out of juice?

Power from the truck, they had a volt meter connected to monitor the voltage.

Also, I would think the pump would either be bad out of the box, not just after a week and then only when it gets hot? I drove it for longer periods of time in hotter weather without it failing. Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[boost]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

any more on your fuel pump problem. i am having similar problem.

 

[AutoVation]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

Replacing the eBay Walbro pump with a Walbro pump from APE seems to have fixed my problem. It's been driving good since.

Something was very odd about this. The eBay guy is going to refund at no charge whereas APE has a disclaimer that it will cost $40 (going from memory here) for Walbro to test the pump to see if it is really defective since 90+% of their returned pumps are apparently in working order.

 

[George Blake]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

Replace the fuel pressure regulator. I replaced mine with a Walbro. Truck wouldn't start. No fuel pressure. Swapped FPR, vroom. Fuel pressure regulator restricts fuel going back to the tank to make pressure on the rail. If it's bad, no pwessa.

 

[SY2932]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

Replacing the eBay Walbro pump with a Walbro pump from APE seems to have fixed my problem. It's been driving good since.

Something was very odd about this. The eBay guy is going to refund at no charge whereas APE has a disclaimer that it will cost $40 (going from memory here) for Walbro to test the pump to see if it is really defective since 90+% of their returned pumps are apparently in working order.

Yep, the rate was close to 98%... The $40 to test the pump is Walbro's policy not Ron's. He's not a HUGE volume seller so he can't really afford to "eat" the cost of every pump that is returned and found out to not be defective. He just sells these on the side, it's not what he does for a living. Besides, if the pump is found to be defective under warranty, you GET YOUR $40 BACK and a NEW fuel pump.

Ron has been supporting this community before I even got my truck nine years ago. I just bought a new Walbro from him a few months ago to replace the one that I got from him eight years and over 35,000 miles ago.

From the APE webpage:

"Walbro offers a one year warranty against manufacturing defects on their in-tank and external high performance fuel pumps [i.e. GSS and GSL pumps] and 90 days on their bellows pumps and Series 6000 pumps. Previously, they were very forgiving with their policy. They simply told vendors to return the pumps and give the customer a new pump. Pretty much a "no questions asked" warranty.
In March, 2004, we were told by Walbro that they were no longer going to blindly replace fuel pumps that were declared defective by customers. This decision was made due to an extremely high volume of pumps tested (nearly 98 percent) that proved to be non-defective. Since then, pumps were required to be sent to Walbro for testing. Even though the number of returned pumps dropped dramatically, a vast majority of returned pumps were still found to be not defective. That testing was taking a significant amount of time/effort.
Walbro says that most high-pressure pump failures can be blamed on one or more of the following:

• Operating the pump without a pickup filter
• Operating the pump in a dirty tank/fuel system
• Operating the pump without fuel [i.e. dry]
• Operating the pump in a returnless fuel system where the vehicle controls fuel pressure by modulating the voltage to the pump [e.g. '99 up Mustang].

Starting August 1, 2005, Walbro has implemented a $40.00 charge per pump for testing. If you have a fuel pump you believe has failed due to manufacturing defects, return it to APE along with a money order for $40. APE will return that pump for testing. If Walbro determines the pump failed under warranty, we will send you a new pump and your $40. If you can't wait for the test results [usually 6-8 weeks], we will sell you a replacement pump, then refund your purchase price if the pump failed due to manufacturing defects."

 

[ghettosled]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

Are you sure the "ebay" pump is actually a Walbro? There are several guys selling 255 pumps on ebay which are quite deceiving about their terminology. Make sure you read the fine print. Most of them are Chinese knockoffs.

Also assuming your wiring is in good standing make sure the pump is not sitting too low in the tank. Often times when replacing the pump the bracket gets bent and the filter ends up sitting too low in the tank and as a result the pump has too work too hard and overheats. Seen this several times, which killed several pumps in a row.

 

[SBNova]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

I second the pump wiring as the fault. I had a similar problem, and even replaced my Walbro 255 that was roughly 1 yr and hardly any mileage old, just because that little two wire plug insdie the tank took a dump. Unfortunately, I took the tank down about 4-5 times before I found the problem. I cut the plug off, and soldered the wires together and heat shrinked them. I havent had a problem since.

Before the fix, I could drive my Ty for about 30-45 minutes before it would stall out. It would run longer if the tank was full- I guess it cooled the connection -probably a dangerous situation now that I look back on it!

 

[Tooky]

Re: Anyone's Walbro fuel pump died within 200 miles?

I started a new thread with what I found: Rash of Premature Walbro Fuel Pump Failures