Fuel Pump has brought me hell

[TetsuoK]

Well, about a week and a half ago, my fuel pump failed on the way home from work.

Given the situation I was in, My brother had to come out with his wife and we had to use his triple A card to get it back home. We left it at my mother's house, because I had to pick up my old car that I've left with them.

She also insisted on me taking it to her mechanic. -- i was extremely reluctant, as I prefer to fix things on my car myself - just like my computer, every time something breaks, and it has gone to a so called "professional" i have been left very unsatisfied.

The mechanic, who mind you, giving credit where credit is due, has been their reliable mechanic for the last 30 years.

Here's where the hell comes in.

I went to pickup the car from their mechanic yesterday. As soon as I got in the car, I realized that the car was on empty. I had put gas in teh car before getting on the freeway, before the car broke down.. I figured he drained the tank and didn't refill it. - Okay, mild inconvenience.

I put some gas in the car, and I noticed it went up to about a quarter tank. As soon as I pressed down on the gas, it went all the way down to 0.

As soon as I stopped on an uphill, it went back to the readout that was proper.

Te thing that was very odd was that it went not just to 0, but it went below the "E" as though there was nothign keeping the gauge from having a bottom limit.

The mechanic was saying that sometimes the baffles inside of the gas tank can shatter when the fuel pump fails. Right now, I was being patient about it and taking a couple breaths, but I feel that at the very least it might have been human error that would have broken the baffles, or at the very least, the fuel gauge,w hich is right there next to the pump, might have been improperly put back in, or somethign worse.

He replaced the strainer with the pump, but the filter was not. That isn't a common breakdown of failures that woudl occur in a regular auto (the fuel gauge thing), but even so.

One added problem, which a possible merit to his broken baffles claim, is that when ever I do come to a stop, or accelerate, I hear a "Kathink" sound as I stop, and a "THUNK" sound as I accelerate out of the stop.

Your sound technical advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[NismoChi]

OK, the "Kathink" and "THUNK" sound that you heard, are they coming from the back of the car? IF you are not sure, then take the back seat out and go drive it around. If you are sure that they are from the tank, i would take the fuel pump out and check if anything is broken, myself. If is not hard at all, may be 10 10mm bolts on top of the tank, then pull it out wih ease. To compare if anything is intact, here is a few pics that what it should look like.

[TetsuoK]

The sound is coming from the back of the car. I'm almost positive its coming from within the gas tank, at least by the timbre of the clunk.

And like I said before. When I'm accellerating, the fuel gauge does not readout correctly (the arrow points down at the ground - below E).

When I stop on a mild incline, it reads correctly. - not so on any sort of a decline.

[yodawill2000]

If the sender is bent (The metal bar going to the float in pic)It will do that .But the Clunk ?? No clue.and how a failing pump can break a baffle ?Im Baffled !!

[NismoChi]

I'm sure if they actually broke the sending unit or got anything bent, it would have happened when they were either taking out or put the whole thing from the trank, even though the whole thing is "drop right in" it actually is pretty tricky because of the size of that thing and the angle of the opening, you really have to have patient and do a lot of twisting and turning to get that thing back in the tank.

[TetsuoK]

I agree, Chi. I spoke to the mechanic today, and had a calm discussion with him. with luck, we'll find out tuesday. (damn 4 day weekend).

He was saying those plastic baffles are riveted into the gas tank. If the flow of liquid (Gasoline) is moving between two areas where the baffle keeps that liquid at a point where the float can give an accurate gas reading through the sender, but is not "baffled" in, then only until it is above the height of the riveted baffles, will it give an accurate gasoline reading.

Thats what he thinks (without looking at it yet, mind you).

NOW... I on the other hand, I've never completely removed the tank from the back, and I've never had a mirror to look down into the fuel pump. Thats hard enough to get in the trunk, let alone look all the way down in there.

And yeah, its an annoying access point.

We'll see. we'll see. Thanks guys for helping me not go insane, and make sure that I was thinking correctly.

We'll see, we'll see.

[Defiant]

The mechanic was saying that sometimes the baffles inside of the gas tank can shatter when the fuel pmp fails.

Wow. They'll just say anything, won't they? Codswallop.The shop botched the job.

[yodawill2000]

My thoughts as well.

When the pump fails it just quits pumping.Not like it flails all over the tank