Walbro fuel pumps

Author
Discussion

alackofspeed

Original Poster:

80 posts

229 months

Wednesday 9th January 2008
quotequote all
Hi all,

I have a "Walbro" 255 inline pump fitted to my car, and on my first outing with it, the pump noise has changed from a constant high pitch tone, to a much lower tone.

When the pump was first fitted the fuel pressure climbed quickly, and the fuel pressure regulator could be heard bypassing within the ECU fuel pump prime period. Now the pressure regulator can only be heard bypassing during a second priming period.

The noise change, and what would seem to be a reduced flow, suggests to me that the pump speed has dropped - in effect it has failed but not entirely.

I've just done a bit of digging on the internet, and it would seem thre are a large number of chinese forgeries in circulation - I wonder if I've unwittingly bought one of them, and now I'm paying the price.

I wonder if the contents of the link below should be believed.

http://www.fuel-pumps.net/walbro-forgeries.html

Any thoughts?

stevieturbo

17,318 posts

249 months

Wednesday 9th January 2008
quotequote all
All I can say is "wow"

It is scandalous what some people will do. First it was turbos, no fuel pumps.

Where did you buy yours ? Genuine Walbros are very very reliable, and I havent heard of one failure yet.
To the extent that Walbro actually stopped offering a warranty on the pumps. Now that may sound odd. But they were getting a lot of pumps returned for inspection, that had failed due to things like damage from dirt from not using a pre-filter.
Or other mechanical damage.
They figured it was better to reduce the price overall, and forget about warranty, as inspecting lots of pumps costs money, and they said the number of actual faulty pumps, was all but zero.

Given how cheap they really are.....I'd only buy from genuine trusted dealers. Although I never knew there were forgeries going about !!!!

rev-erend

21,446 posts

286 months

Wednesday 9th January 2008
quotequote all
Check the fuel pressure on the pump side of the regulator - if it's low then the pump is shot.

eliot

11,538 posts

256 months

Wednesday 9th January 2008
quotequote all
Might be worth take a quick look at your electricals, if its anything like a bosch 044 - they draw a fair amount of current.
Put a digital volt meter across the terminals when its running and compare that to your battery voltage.

Ideally, you should do it with the engine not running as this will force it to maximum pressure (assuming non forced induction) which will be max current draw. But you will need to get the pump running somehow with the engine off.
You can use a syringe in the FPR vac line to simulate vacuum and boost.

alackofspeed

Original Poster:

80 posts

229 months

Wednesday 9th January 2008
quotequote all
Cheers for the replies. The wiring is man enough for the task, and the lift pump that is one the same circuit is working fine.

The pump makes the pressure, but much slower than it used to, so I'm pretty sure it's partially failed.

Going on the wealth of information on the 'net concerning cheapo fake Walbro pumps, and mine was notably cheaper than most outlets, I think I've got a looky-likey!

Ho hum.

Anyone know a good UK based supplier of Bosch pumps?.....

stevieturbo

17,318 posts

249 months

Wednesday 9th January 2008
quotequote all
alackofspeed said:
Cheers for the replies. The wiring is man enough for the task, and the lift pump that is one the same circuit is working fine.

The pump makes the pressure, but much slower than it used to, so I'm pretty sure it's partially failed.

Going on the wealth of information on the 'net concerning cheapo fake Walbro pumps, and mine was notably cheaper than most outlets, I think I've got a looky-likey!

Ho hum.

Anyone know a good UK based supplier of Bosch pumps?.....
Sytec are the obvious choice for Walbro or Bosch although not always the cheapest.. But Bosch have literally hundreds of outlets scattered around the country. Pretty much any decent motor factors should be able to get them.

http://www.fuelsystem.co.uk/

Or the likes of Demon Tweeks etc sell their stuff.


BB-Q

1,697 posts

212 months

Thursday 10th January 2008
quotequote all
Or go to the scrappy and pull one of a Merc or similar- they never ever fail.