Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: CAP1 on July 20, 2009, 07:58:05 AM

Title: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 20, 2009, 07:58:05 AM
i have a customers car here.......actually it's the second one from them. they're air force, and from texas.

first one was a chevy pickup, with a 350. it had a bad fuel pump. it was different, as most chevys i have with fuel pump issues, won't run at all. this would run, just very very poorly.

 as soon as i finished the repair, he picked up his truck, and dropped his wifes honda civic. it has a lean code. ran through the testing, and it has low fuel pressure......with an intank fuel filter. seems i have to replace the fuel pump in this one too.

 so.......does anyone from down there know how they mix fuel? with ethenol i mean? is it stronger than here in jersey, or weaker?
 it just seems weird to me to have 2 bad fuel pumps from 2 cars from the same family...and they're both from texas.


thanks!
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: Shifty on July 20, 2009, 08:35:43 AM
You know all us Texans are millionaire oil magnets. We burn straight crude from the oil wells in our backyards. ;)

Seriously CAP we do use an ethenol mix, I don't know if it's stronger than what is beinig run in the Northeast. It's possible I don't believe all states run a uniform mix.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: RipChord929 on July 20, 2009, 08:46:11 AM
Could be all that sand they have in Texas... Gets in everything...
Spent some time down there, that was one of the things that I noticed most about it....
Sand sand sand!!!  Heck, it blows in the wind...

They say Texans have sand in their craw, Its TRUE, cuz of the sand in their food, ;)

Gotta say I liked the place tho!!!

RC
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: spacer on July 20, 2009, 08:50:28 AM
Cap, I'm not from Texas, but spent 22 years in the AF.  Quite often we would get Crappy gas at the BX filling stations.  Infact I don't buy from the base where I am at, because my car runs bad on the gas, like it gets water in the system. 
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: Larokkit on July 20, 2009, 09:15:56 AM
be a good bet they fill up at the same crappy gas station, like one thats slow and doesnt get good fress fuel often.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: bcadoo on July 20, 2009, 09:43:30 AM
Depends on what part of Texas they were in.  Here in Houston we can have up to 10% ethanol in the gas because of our bad air.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 20, 2009, 10:07:01 AM
Cap, I'm not from Texas, but spent 22 years in the AF.  Quite often we would get Crappy gas at the BX filling stations.  Infact I don't buy from the base where I am at, because my car runs bad on the gas, like it gets water in the system. 

yaknow...i hadn't thought of that.......good point. thanks! :aok
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: Shuffler on July 20, 2009, 10:59:43 AM
Yup 10% is the norm in Houston area and most of Texas. Most likely scenario is the bad gas cheap corner station one.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 20, 2009, 01:08:40 PM
JUST TALKed to the vehicle owner. he's based in atlantic city, and she's on mcguire. he thinks she gets her gas on base, but he doesn't.
 they were un aware of keeping their tanks above 1/4, and this may be a possibility., the honda only has 80k on it, so in my eyes, it's young for a new fuelpump.

 they;re gonna try getting their gas at different places though.......
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: eagl on July 20, 2009, 09:47:33 PM
The on-base gas here had diesel contamination not once, not twice, but at least three times in one year.  They finally got the supplier to pay out for service for anyone who bought premium unleaded on base for almost a whole week.  And then a month later, they did the same thing again.

That said, my guess with those people is that "someone" (wifey?) ran the car out of gas and tried to crank it until the battery wouldn't crank anymore, then sat there with the radio running (and fuel pump spinning in an empty tank) until the fuel pump failed.  Don't ask me how I know this is a very possible chain of events...   :mad:
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: RATTFINK on July 20, 2009, 09:56:52 PM
I have never had any fuel pump problems.   
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 20, 2009, 10:54:26 PM
The on-base gas here had diesel contamination not once, not twice, but at least three times in one year.  They finally got the supplier to pay out for service for anyone who bought premium unleaded on base for almost a whole week.  And then a month later, they did the same thing again.

That said, my guess with those people is that "someone" (wifey?) ran the car out of gas and tried to crank it until the battery wouldn't crank anymore, then sat there with the radio running (and fuel pump spinning in an empty tank) until the fuel pump failed.  Don't ask me how I know this is a very possible chain of events...   :mad:

well....it can;t really happen that way...the fuelpump running i mean.......when you turn on the key, it cycles for 2 seconds,to pressurize the system, then stops till the engine is cranked.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: branch37 on July 20, 2009, 11:07:24 PM
i have only had 1 fuel pump problem but it was on a 67 ford pickup with so many miles on it that the odometer rolled back to zero twice  :uhoh

Could be all that sand they have in Texas... Gets in everything...
Spent some time down there, that was one of the things that I noticed most about it....
Sand sand sand!!!  Heck, it blows in the wind...

They say Texans have sand in their craw, Its TRUE, cuz of the sand in their food, ;)

Gotta say I liked the place tho!!!

RC


its not sand its dirt!!!  :aok
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: Shuffler on July 21, 2009, 10:54:31 AM
On your 67 it was mechanical. Much easier to change.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 21, 2009, 11:01:22 AM
On your 67 it was mechanical. Much easier to change.

YEP. drivers side mounted on the front timing cover. none of that pushrod poop like the chevys either.  :D

can change them out in less than 1/2 hour.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: FX1 on July 21, 2009, 11:59:52 AM
Never had a fuel pump problem.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: branch37 on July 21, 2009, 05:25:19 PM
On your 67 it was mechanical. Much easier to change.


yep right behind the drivers seat, i changed the pump and the fuel gauge system in about 2 hours.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: 1pLUs44 on July 21, 2009, 05:36:41 PM
Could be all that sand they have in Texas... Gets in everything...
Spent some time down there, that was one of the things that I noticed most about it....
Sand sand sand!!!  Heck, it blows in the wind...

They say Texans have sand in their craw, Its TRUE, cuz of the sand in their food, ;)

Gotta say I liked the place tho!!!

RC

:lol

Looks like you've never been to Central/East Texas.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 21, 2009, 07:22:24 PM

yep right behind the drivers seat, i changed the pump and the fuel gauge system in about 2 hours.

you had a 67 ford with the fuelpump INSIDE, and behind the drivers seat?

 who was the twit that ran fuel lines inside like that?

 60's cars and trucks had mechanical fuelpumps, mounted directly on the engine.

fords had the pump mounted up high, so as to be directly driven by the camshaft. gm;s were mooounted lower, and had a pushrod that went up to the cam. i forget how chryslers were mounted.

 
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: eagl on July 21, 2009, 08:39:16 PM
well....it can;t really happen that way...the fuelpump running i mean.......when you turn on the key, it cycles for 2 seconds,to pressurize the system, then stops till the engine is cranked.

Apparently it works that way in every car but my firebird...   :mad:

Did you know the only two ways to change a fuel pump in a 4th gen f-body are to drop the whole rear axle or cut a hole in the floor pan?
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 21, 2009, 08:58:42 PM
Apparently it works that way in every car but my firebird...   :mad:

Did you know the only two ways to change a fuel pump in a 4th gen f-body are to drop the whole rear axle or cut a hole in the floor pan?


i do now.  :rofl

i remember the IROC's. i HATED doing them.

seems like they hired a disgruntled ford engineer to design that poop under there.  :rofl

yours may have had a bad relay. what year was it?

if it was the iroc body type, they had the relays right next to the radiator(i think). they were common to go bad too.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: eagl on July 21, 2009, 10:05:31 PM
Not IROC, 4th gen (1998) firebird.  Wifey ran it out of gas twice, and that's a known way to burn out the fuel pump, guaranteed.  Very expensive fix.  Woulda done it myself but I was in Korea at the time so a $100 pump cost $1000ish to replace.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 22, 2009, 08:34:26 AM
delivered the honda yesterday. i think that it may have been pure cooincidence that these both failed around the same time.

the truck had 177k. before he was stationed here, he had been stationed at 1/2 dozen places around the country. seems just age on that one.

 the honda uses a returnless fuel system. the pressure regulator is mounted on the fuelpump module inside the fuel tank. upon removing that yesterday, i could see the little plastic clip that holds the regulator in place had cracked, allowing the regulator to shift just enough to displace the rubber o-ring, causing it to leak, thus dropping pressure. the honda runs on 40-47psi. this car had 39psi when started, and slowly dropped to 30psi. funny thins is that it felt fine while driving it.

 installed the new fuelpump module(BTW....if any of you in the field get one of these, they're cheaper from honda, and they're the entire module assembly, not just the pump.), and pressure came right back up to 45psi.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: DMBEAR on July 22, 2009, 04:55:35 PM
Maybe it's good we dont have a state income tax so we can deal w/ problems like these on our own.
Title: Re: Question for you Texas residents
Post by: CAP1 on July 22, 2009, 05:28:55 PM
Maybe it's good we dont have a state income tax so we can deal w/ problems like these on our own.
what's state income tax got to do with fuelpump problems?