It's been quite a while since I've added anything to my blog. There hasn't been much to write about until recently; the San Diego winter makes it pretty tough to drive this car so it hasn't come out very much.
As y'all recall I was happily driving along when my engine cut out for no apparent reason. It's not obvious in my "stranded" video but I could tell something was up pretty quickly. For those running the Bosch 044 external fuel pump in their HP position, you'll know that the pump makes a good amount of noise when it's cycling. It was very clearly not cycling in my video (at least from my perspective).
So that was a pretty big clue for me. When I got the car pushed off onto a quieter street I started going through the usual fuel pump checks. Relays, fuses, loose wires, etc. Everything came back clean.
I got the trailer out there and we trailered the car home. For giggles I decided to cycle the engine when we got there and wouldn't you know it? It fired right up. This is consistent with how my last Bosch 044 pump failed - that's right, this is the second pump failure I've had!
There's a multitude of reasons for what I think could have caused my failure - I won't go into all the details here, it's a bit boring. I was faced with 2 options; simply replace the pump and keep my fingers crossed it would last or go big and make some real changes to the fuel system. I decided to take the Nuclear option and I'm ripping my fuel system apart and redoing it completely.
Here's some in-process photos when I originally laid my system out:
Low pressure Walbro pump in background, low pressure filter, Bosch high pressure pump in foreground.
With the surge tank installed and a few more lines plumbed. I located both my fuel pumps so they're below the ports that feed them to try and ensure they're constantly primed.
And here's a sneak peek of what's to come:
If you're a bit masochistic and want to read all about my thoughts on why my fuel pumps are dying and why I've taken the Nuclear option, click the link to read my latest blog entry!
63. It's all fun and games until someone runs out of fuel