liftpump failure?
July 9, 2004 - 10:10am
Does anybody know what would cause a lift/injector pump to just fail. I was on a recent road trip and had one quit after going 80 miles from a gas/diesel station. It ran fine right up to when I stopped at a rest stop at a small marina town for 3 hours. When I tried to start it it wouldn't. I won't go into all the details as I have told the story in the worst veggie topic. Just woundering how this could happen without warning. No miss, smoke, rough running. Nothing but smooth running up to that point. Very puzzeling. Any info would help.
Thanks
Art
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Grease only no wings please!
It's not Easy being Greasy!
July 15, 2004 - 7:06pm
#2
greasebunny, the same thing just happened to me 2 days ago in my Ford 7.3 shortbus only it died while I was driving it (I was driving on veggie, and I couldn't get it going on veg or diesel) I got it towed to a nearby diesel shop and worked with the mechanic there (a skeptic) replacing the lift pump, who was convinced the veggie caused the pump to conk out. Which doesn't really make a whole lotta sense to me, it's a solid, mechanical pump and doesn't seem to be nearly as delicate as the injection pump is, so I don't think it got clogged... it seems like it just quit working. This other mechanic I talked with claims they just die sometimes. He reccomended installing a 7 - 15 psi electric pump on the veggie line, then loop the veg stright into the injection pump - bypassing the lift pump altogether - sounds like overkill to me, the lift pump should be able to handle veggie - anyone have any thoughts on this? Ever hear of pumps being destroyed by the extra effort of pumping veg? Thanks, Gina.
July 17, 2004 - 4:25am
#3
Twotank,
That had to cost a pretty penny (tow,pump). I find it hard to belive that the lift pump would just die like that but it did. I'm not really sure why it happend but this is just a guess. I figure maybe something got into the pump and siezed it or ruined a seal in it. My car never seen a drop of veggie or bio yet. It was running straight diesel at the time. Any clue as to why yours died?
Art
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It's not Easy being Greasy!
July 17, 2004 - 4:41am
#4
Golftdi,
My car that had the pump die was an 81 VW Rabbit but I have since sold it off and am now looking at an 80-85 benz 300 td or a later model (99-2004) VW Golf. How do you like your Golf? How did the conversion go (easy/hard) and how does it like the veggie?
Thanks
Art
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It's not Easy being Greasy!
July 18, 2004 - 2:13pm
#5
Greasebunny, it cost a pretty penny indeed... I got my rig running on veggie again yesterday - now my exhaust smells funny, not like french fries at all but like something much more caustic - the next step is to empty my veggie tank and see what's happening in there - been thinkin about what you said about my pump "seizing" - maybe i got some gunk in the tank - I talked to a mechanic friend of mine earlier who said that lift pumps tend to wear out eventually, especially on older engines (mine's an 89) so maybe that's what happened to your car- good luck
-Gina.
July 18, 2004 - 3:21pm
#6
Twotank,
I was on a road trip when it happened and I didn't get the old pump back as I was in a hurry to come home. I think that is the most likely thing to happen to it. It explains how it would just vappen so suddenly like that. You might want to dump your tank of Veggie as it might have gone rancid (strange smell). I don't think rancid veggie would kill a lift pump but it may cause you other trouble. I would also run a bottle of Diesel purg or other type of diesel cleaner like Stanadyne just to make sure all the possable gunk is out of the system. Hope this will help you.
Art
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It's not Easy being Greasy!
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What car do you have? Are you sure it's the lift pump and not a switch or valve or filter?
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If a horse can eat green *&!# and run like a mother-&*#!er then so can {my car}!
-Miles Davis