Whistling Fuel Pump

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Dindo Perlas

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2001
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Location
Pasig, PH
Hello fellow Trac'ers!



I have rarely used my trac for 2 years within which it accumulated only 1000kms :rolleyes:. Needless to say, I didn't bother filling up the tank even if it was at E. I'm currently trying to revive my trac :). But , after replacing the battery, cleaning the IAC, MAF, throttle, doing the seafoam, change oil, and change coolant, the trac has been stalling when idle at stop lights :eek:. Aside from that, hard starting is also an issue. :angry:



Last Saturday, I took it for a ride to a nearby supermarket to observe if it had more issues :D. Then when I was going down a steep ramp to the basement parking the trac stalled :(. Thinking that the trac had difficulty sucking fuel at an incline, I concluded right there and then that I had a problem with my fuel pump :unsure:. My fuel was less than 1/4, probably at 1/8. On my way home, it was stalling and gave me a hard time restarting it each time. So I dropped by a gas station and filled up the tank to the brim! :cool: From then on, it never stalled :banana:. However, when I parked my car and turned of the engine, I could hear the fuel pump whistling. :blink:



To all our experts on board (no pun intended), if I do have a failing fuel pump, will it get better in time by simply just keeping the tank near full hoping that the gas lubricates the pump and undoes whatever issue the fuel pump has? :wacko: If it has no chances of getting fixed (w/o replacement), would it get any worse even if I keep the tank near full from now on? :unsure: Obviously I'm trying to avoid a fuel pump replacement :lol:. But if I really have to replace it then let this be an expensive lesson learned. :angry:



TIA. :)



(Oops. sorry I had fun with the smileys :D )
 
I think your vehicle is suffering from severe lack of use and possibly bad fuel. Putting a fresh tank of fuel in it probably did cure it because the old fuel was exactly that...old, 600 miles in 2 years is definetely old fuel.



While your pump may be whining it doesn't necessarily mean that it is bad, most fuel pumps will make a whine noise but if yours is excessive I don't know because my hearing isn't that good from this distance. Once the pump starts to go bad..not saying yours is, it doesn't magically fix itself. If it is going bad it will fail eventually, then again all pumps eventually fail.



IMO fuel level has nothing to do with fuel pump life ON MODERN VEHICLES. There are alot of people out here in internet land that swear up and down that the fuel surrounding the pump is what keeps the pump cool, actually it is the fuel that is flowing through the pump that does 98% of the cooling. You would be out of fuel and the vehicle would have stopped running long before you ran the pump long enough for it to overheat. Again this is for modern vehicles where the fuel pumps sit in their own cavity, older designs have the fuel pump totally exposed.



I say you should make your ST a daily driver for a while and I bet that it starts to run better with each mile you put on it.
 
I agree, you probably have gas that has gummed up in the pump/ lines, etc.. You could have sucked dirt or rust into the pump/ lines from the bottom of your tank sink you left it low for so long and ran it low for as long. I just cleaned the IAC/ MAF/ TB and put the seafoam cleaner in a full tank of gas and it has helped greatly. Try the seafoam in the tank and a tank of higher/ highest test grade fuel in and run it on the highway at higher speeds to blow out all the nasty carbon/ gummed up fuel and it hopefully will solve the problem. Good luck, keep us posted. :D
 
I cant say for the trac. But I had a whinning in tank pump on a Dodge @40k. I let it go. Just figured it was a noisy one. Well my lack of careing. The pump failed. I replaced it with an AZ cheapy. It was queiter than when the car was new....:blink:
 
Yeah, I forgot to look at it from the old fuel perspective. I'm dumb! But how about the angle that filling up the tank lubricates the fuel pump. Would that help?



Based on your replies, I think I can still get some more miles from my fuel pump with proper care and conscious maintenance. In due time, when I feel more convinced, I'll do the replacement and probably have the tank cleaned as well.



I've done the seafoam but I never got to put some in the tank. I'll do it soon as I think my tank needs a lot of help! As soon as I get it back in shape I'll take it to a long drive to hopefully remove bad stuff in the engine. Yes, I'll definitely use the trac a lot more frequently from now on.



Thanks l1tech, Jerry Gerner, Fast Eddie'04!!!



Gavin, bill barber, hahaha!!!! nice one!!!

 
So I owe you an update..



I was in a catch 22... I had to use the trac to clean up the fuel lines. But at the same time, I didn't want to because it stalls.



So I decided to just replace the whistling fuel pump. It took time for me to find a pump with a friendly price. Then it took time to deliver it across the pacific ocean from the US. Then it took time for me to find a decent shop with special ford tools because the ford dealership here wouldn't deal with replacement parts.



The pump's silent now :). I've been driving it for 3 days now and it has never stalled. :)



Thanks again, everybody.
 
So I owe you an update..



I was in a catch 22... I had to use the trac to clean up the fuel lines. But at the same time, I didn't want to because it stalls.



So I decided to just replace the whistling fuel pump. It took time for me to find a pump with a friendly price. Then it took time to deliver it across the pacific ocean from the US. Then it took time for me to find a decent shop with special ford tools because the ford dealership here wouldn't deal with replacement parts.



The pump's silent now :). I've been driving it for 3 days now and it has never stalled. :)



Thanks again, everybody.
 

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