Hello, Group - I'm healthy again, and back at trying to get my Discovery I going. Here's my problem: two years ago, I replaced the fuel pump and everything seemed to be fine. The truck sat for the last two years, and wouldn't start when I tried it. We troubleshot everything back to a new fuel pump, installed a new one a week and a half-ago, and everything was fine. This morning, I tried starting it, and it wouldn't catch; (the engine cranks fine, plenty of battery, fuel, etc.). So I pulled the new fuel pump, and it looked like the one I replaced! Completely full of crud, all rust-color crap over the pump; I bench tested the pump and it's not working. I'm wondering what happened? I had Stabile in the fuel tank, and it doesn't look contaminated, but I'll have to siphon out about 10 gallons of fuel to get to the bottom. So, has anyone had this happen? Any ideas? Is fuel tank cleaning an option? What do you think? Thanks, Joe.

 

Hello, Group - So as an update to my earlier post this morning "Discovery I - Fuel tank problem / Contamination?", we took the fuel pump apart, cleaned it all up, bench tested it and it works. Knowing the pump worked, we reassembled the fuel pump, reinstalled it, and tried it, but it doesn't want to pump. We checked to confirm that there is electricity coming to the pump. We checked the fuses, the inertia cut-off switch, all working. Any ideas? Thanks, Joe.

 

Check voltage at the pump if you have 12V power and ground, and you hear the pump run that is good, next check the for fuel pressure at the fuel rail, if you don't have fuel pressure reverse the wires at the pump, cars run on 12 volts DC if the wires are connected backwards the pump will pump air into the fuel tank instead of pumping fuel forward to the engine. Try that and see if that takes care of it.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, Icannap1! I need to check to see that I've got electricity to the pump, and that it's 12V (the pump works when tested directly to the battery). Initially, I thought we did, but now I'm wondering; it may have only been the pins to the Fuel Level Sensor and not to the Pump, if that's possible. I will double-check and report on what the status is. Thanks again! - Joe.

 

there's also a short connector wiring harness( to the pump) located over the frame rail by the left rear wheel well....they are known to corrode

 

The fuel float is 5V. I'd second the short connector to the fuel pump also the roll over switch on the firewall and the MFU (Multi-Function Unit on the passengers side inner wing. Sometimes it's just disconnecting/reconnecting a connector. Contamination is a bit puzzling though. I know the fuel rail is steel and it does rust, with a fuel return line it could be cleaning out the rail rot back into the tank.

 

Thank you XCELLER8 and ihscouts for the information and suggestions! I will check both and report back. Very much appreciate the advice!

 

Hello, Group - Just back to report that I got everything straightened out; in the end, it turned out to be a faulty fuel pump relay. The gasoline did have some water in it, but I took care of that, and siphoned a lot of residue out of the bottom of the tank while I had the fuel pump out. On to the next issue! Again, thank you very much for your help! - Joe.

 

Good to hear you got the pump isssue sorted. Re: the water in the fuel, I've used K100G Fuel Treatment for a few years (in many diff cars) and this stuff works amazing. You can get it for about $8.00 at any Napa, Advance, Online, etc. and it's well worth the money!
Company Site > Eliminates Water | Fuel & Gas Additive | K-100