I pulled my fuel pump last night and replaced it with a walbro 255 lph. Because I wanted to keep the car far from ignition sources, I did the work outside. I started too late in the day, so I had to cap the top of the tank and finish the install in the morning. I have, everything has been re-connected and the walbro is in place.

However- I have tried to start the car twice. It cranks, but won't start! I assume this is because the lines have been de-pressurized and the fuel pump is, in essence, dry at this point (the strainer is sitting in fuel, of course). The car is also parked on an incline, with the fuel tank above the engine.

Any ideas what I can do here or what may have gone wrong? I'm of the mind that if I continue trying to crank the car I will kill the starter or the fuel pump...

 

Did you put the fuel pump fuse back in? Maybe since you are on an angle the pump is not submerged in enough in the fuel. It also might just be a faulty walbro fuel pump... it has happened before.

 

The pump itself is not submerged in fuel at all. The strainer, however, is- but the stock fuel pump was in the same place when I removed it, and was not submerged in fuel... and worked fine.

 

Oh, and the fuel pump fuse IS in....


Does the body of the pump itself need to be submerged in fuel, or is submerging the strainer and attached tube enough?

 

I would make sure that you have enough gas in the tank, becuase running the fuel pump without much gas in the tank will burn out a fuel pump motor - the gas actually cools the motor - and don't ask me how i know - let's just sat - been there, done that.

 

When you turn the key to ignition, do you hear the pump prime the fuel system for a few seconds? Leave the backseat off, close all the windows so it's quiet in the cabin, and turn the key to ignition. You should hear a humming sound from the pump. If that doesn't work, run a jumper wire to it for +12v and see if it runs then. If it doesn't, then you need a new pump, it's defective.

Also, you could just hook up a fuel pressure gauge under the hood, or take the top lead off of the fuel filter (or the fuel rail, or really anywhere) and see if it starts spewing fuel when you turn to ignition.

 

hmmph...

No "whirring". Though I admit, the dvd player in my car was doing a bit of noisemaking itself when the car was put into "on" and my hearing aint what it used to be... how distinct is that sound? My next step is to simply pull the cap off and begin putting the stock pump back in...

 

Sounds like a faulty pump. Put your old one back in and see what happens to confirm this.