Bill,

One way to 'solve' the noisy fuel pump is to drive
a diesel pickup truck. Damn diesel engines are so
noisy, even at idle, they can drown out the sound of
a few extra fuel pumps, sirens, air horns, bickering
neighbors, howling dogs and screaming babies...

(I'm talking Ford, Chevy, Dodge (Cummins) diesels.
The Mercedes and Volkswagon diesels available in America
are quite civilized.)

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA



At 02:42 03 March 2007, Bill Daniels wrote:
As there seems to be a lot of interest in X/C, landouts
and retrieves,
possibly from remote areas, let me bring up a problem
area - crappy electric
fuel pumps.
Most vehicles these days are fuel injected with an
electric fuel pump in the
tank. These electric pumps, according to an informal
survey of friends and
acquaintances, fail with alarming frequency - usually
within ~50K miles and
each 50K thereafter. Failure will always occur without
warning and in the
worst possible place and at the worst possible time.

According to my last tow truck driver, these crappy
pumps provide him with a
nice business - he estimates 50% of his tows are failed
pumps. The more
expensive the car, the more likely he is to tow it.
The tow truck won't
tow your glider - just the car. This probably means
leaving the trailer on
the roadside until you can come back for it. Not good.

A pump failure will cause instant engine stoppage and
loss of power brakes
and steering. This means wrestling the car and glider
trailer to the
roadside. Once you are on the roadside, you will find
that no matter how
good you may be at fixing cars, there is nothing you
can do but call a tow
truck since pump replacement requires a high bay hoist
where the gas tank
can be removed. It just isn't a DIY job.

One popular solution among off-roaders is to replace
the in-tank pump with
an external, in-line pump that CAN be replaced on the
roadside. In fact,
I'm considering two pumps in parallel with check valves
and an A/B switch in
the cab. I could then just flip the switch and be
on my way. I'd replace
the failed pump at my convenience.

The downside of in-line pumps is they are noisy - at
least they can be heard
operating in an otherwise quiet vehicle. Some soundproofing
around the pump
can take care of this.



Bill Daniels