Fuel pump recommendations for my 97 Z28.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 938
From: West Palm Beach Florida
Fuel pump recommendations for my 97 Z28.
I'm trying to decide on a fuel pump my choices are the Walbro 255LPH
F20000169 that has the off set inlet.
Or just replacing the one that I have now TREperformance TRE 255 LPH.
http://treperformance.com/i-873-chev...1985-2002.html
The pump worked great.
The problem witch I don't understand is the gas gauge is reading is off and I ran out of gas for the forth time and killed the pump.
I don't understand why running out for gas would kill the pump because as soon as the engine dies the fuel pump is turned off because the car uses an oil presser switch to turn the fuel pump on and off right?
And if that's the case how can the pump burn out?
I was talking to a member on another board and he said he's got a Walbro 255LPH pump and it says it can be run up to five minutes dry without damage to the pump.
That's what it says on his spec sheet that came with the pump.
The only problem is that it's an external pump.
I don't know what to do I have no money coming in right now.
The Walbro 255LPH F20000169 will cost me $100 bucks and the TREperformance TRE 255 LPH $80 bucks.
Plus the $55 bucks to tow the car to my house.
If either pump is going to die that easy then I would rather save the 20 bucks and get the TRE 255 pump they might work something out with me because it's only 2 years old.
I have also heard that the Walbro pumps are loud and I know my old one was not the last thing I want to do in put a loud pump in my car.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
F20000169 that has the off set inlet.
Or just replacing the one that I have now TREperformance TRE 255 LPH.
http://treperformance.com/i-873-chev...1985-2002.html
The pump worked great.
The problem witch I don't understand is the gas gauge is reading is off and I ran out of gas for the forth time and killed the pump.
I don't understand why running out for gas would kill the pump because as soon as the engine dies the fuel pump is turned off because the car uses an oil presser switch to turn the fuel pump on and off right?
And if that's the case how can the pump burn out?
I was talking to a member on another board and he said he's got a Walbro 255LPH pump and it says it can be run up to five minutes dry without damage to the pump.
That's what it says on his spec sheet that came with the pump.
The only problem is that it's an external pump.
I don't know what to do I have no money coming in right now.
The Walbro 255LPH F20000169 will cost me $100 bucks and the TREperformance TRE 255 LPH $80 bucks.
Plus the $55 bucks to tow the car to my house.
If either pump is going to die that easy then I would rather save the 20 bucks and get the TRE 255 pump they might work something out with me because it's only 2 years old.
I have also heard that the Walbro pumps are loud and I know my old one was not the last thing I want to do in put a loud pump in my car.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 385
From: Midwest
First, the external pump has a different cooling mechanism than the in-tank pumps. Don't compare apples to oranges.
All the in-tank pumps are cooled by the fuel in the fuel tank. No fuel, no cooling. The 255lph pumps (all of them) contain a high-speed electric motor which uses close to 10 Amps of power. That much power generates a lot of heat.
The equation works like this: Lots of heat + no cooling = failure.
The Walbro you are quoting is the in-tank version, it will generate as much heat as the TRE.
Personally, I would do the following:
1) Purchase the TRE since you have had success with it.
2) Find a way to never run out of fuel. Use the odometer to check how much fuel is left, or Keep it full. Pulling a pump is a PITA, as you well know. You can't let these cars run out of fuel, plain and simple.
Best of luck.
All the in-tank pumps are cooled by the fuel in the fuel tank. No fuel, no cooling. The 255lph pumps (all of them) contain a high-speed electric motor which uses close to 10 Amps of power. That much power generates a lot of heat.
The equation works like this: Lots of heat + no cooling = failure.
The Walbro you are quoting is the in-tank version, it will generate as much heat as the TRE.
Personally, I would do the following:
1) Purchase the TRE since you have had success with it.
2) Find a way to never run out of fuel. Use the odometer to check how much fuel is left, or Keep it full. Pulling a pump is a PITA, as you well know. You can't let these cars run out of fuel, plain and simple.
Best of luck.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 938
From: West Palm Beach Florida
First, the external pump has a different cooling mechanism than the in-tank pumps. Don't compare apples to oranges.
All the in-tank pumps are cooled by the fuel in the fuel tank. No fuel, no cooling. The 255lph pumps (all of them) contain a high-speed electric motor which uses close to 10 Amps of power. That much power generates a lot of heat.
The equation works like this: Lots of heat + no cooling = failure.
The Walbro you are quoting is the in-tank version, it will generate as much heat as the TRE.
Personally, I would do the following:
1) Purchase the TRE since you have had success with it.
2) Find a way to never run out of fuel. Use the odometer to check how much fuel is left, or Keep it full. Pulling a pump is a PITA, as you well know. You can't let these cars run out of fuel, plain and simple.
Best of luck.
All the in-tank pumps are cooled by the fuel in the fuel tank. No fuel, no cooling. The 255lph pumps (all of them) contain a high-speed electric motor which uses close to 10 Amps of power. That much power generates a lot of heat.
The equation works like this: Lots of heat + no cooling = failure.
The Walbro you are quoting is the in-tank version, it will generate as much heat as the TRE.
Personally, I would do the following:
1) Purchase the TRE since you have had success with it.
2) Find a way to never run out of fuel. Use the odometer to check how much fuel is left, or Keep it full. Pulling a pump is a PITA, as you well know. You can't let these cars run out of fuel, plain and simple.
Best of luck.
I'm thinking about buying an external pump but where the heck would I mount it?
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 385
From: Midwest
Well my neighbor that's an engineer told me that If I put the right resistor on the gauge wire and I can make the gauge read lower than it is so that would help not burn the pump out because whe the tank was empty this time the gauge read 1/8 of an inch above the E line.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 938
From: West Palm Beach Florida
Please bear with me here. What you are saying is that he told you that if you put the correct resistor value in-line then the gauge would be more accurate and you would have less of a chance of burning out the pump? Before I answer, I just want to make sure that is what you intended to say, I'm not trying to give you a difficult time.
He said that if I just connected to the wire it would make the gauge read lower than it is.
What I wanted to do is take ohms away because when it ran out of gas and killed my pump it was 1/8 of an inch away from the E mark.
So my sender is reading higher than it is.
There might be gas in the tank but not enough for the pick up to get it so it should read E right on the line not 1/8 of an inch above the line.
A new sending unit cost around $250 + the $80+ bucks for the pump.
I just can't do both and there is no guarantee that the sender will read right.
when I got the car over 4 years ago the fuel gauge what pretty accurate but it seams to be off more enough that I'm running out of gas before it hits the E line.
So I was thinking of a way I can make it read lower than it is that way the pump will never run dry unless I run it way too long on E.
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 385
From: Midwest
O.K., thanks for the clarification.
First, the sending unit outputs a voltage, so adding resistance (I would probably use a small power resistor, which is designed to dissipate heat) will change the reading at the gauge. The problems you would encounter are multiple:
First, you would have to calibrate it. For your application, I would run the tank out of gas (endangering your pump again) then swap out resistors until you got the reading at the gauge that you want.
Second, the output of the sending unit is not linear. That is, the reading at full is not twice the reading at half a tank.
Third, because of this lack of linearity, you will not know how the resistor will affect the readings at other levels except by trial and error.
The sending unit is known to be inaccurate. Shoebox has this writeup: http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#fuel_gauge
It also discusses how to diagnose the output of the sending unit. Personally, if I know the tank is empty at 1/4 tank, I would make sure that I never run it down that far, perhaps fill up at 1/2 tank instead. I am not trying to be a smartazz, I am just trying to be realistic.
Best of luck.
First, the sending unit outputs a voltage, so adding resistance (I would probably use a small power resistor, which is designed to dissipate heat) will change the reading at the gauge. The problems you would encounter are multiple:
First, you would have to calibrate it. For your application, I would run the tank out of gas (endangering your pump again) then swap out resistors until you got the reading at the gauge that you want.
Second, the output of the sending unit is not linear. That is, the reading at full is not twice the reading at half a tank.
Third, because of this lack of linearity, you will not know how the resistor will affect the readings at other levels except by trial and error.
The sending unit is known to be inaccurate. Shoebox has this writeup: http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#fuel_gauge
It also discusses how to diagnose the output of the sending unit. Personally, if I know the tank is empty at 1/4 tank, I would make sure that I never run it down that far, perhaps fill up at 1/2 tank instead. I am not trying to be a smartazz, I am just trying to be realistic.
Best of luck.
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 239
From: Here
Go with O.E.M dude, Aftermarket pumps have let me down. AC Delco is better by far my factory one lasted 120k and the only thing wrong was corrosion on one of the terminals but I thought it shi* beforehand and ordered two racetronix pumps one after the other failed.........Both crapped less than 5k apart. Thank god I had an access cover to make a hellacious swap a 10min task...Literally.... I've had lots of practice thanks too those pumps going bad whatta waste. Ac might cost a little more but who cares at least it holds up.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 938
From: West Palm Beach Florida
Go with O.E.M dude, Aftermarket pumps have let me down. AC Delco is better by far my factory one lasted 120k and the only thing wrong was corrosion on one of the terminals but I thought it shi* beforehand and ordered two racetronix pumps one after the other failed.........Both crapped less than 5k apart. Thank god I had an access cover to make a hellacious swap a 10min task...Literally.... I've had lots of practice thanks too those pumps going bad whatta waste. Ac might cost a little more but who cares at least it holds up.
I got a deal because they made a mistake on there web page so there going to give it to me for that price.
I would have gotten another TRE 255LPH pump but I needed a new sender.
That pump worked great and was very quite I just killed it because my gas gauge was off more than I thought and burned it out after running out of gas for the forth time.
I will have the pump on Wednesday.
I can't wait to have my car back and the gauge working right.
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