Killing Fuel Pumps

[JRD]

Morning all, my first post here, I'm struggling with my 91 Elan a little.

I bought this thing recently and have been trying to recommission. It was imported into Germany something like 14 years ago by the previous owner and in that time he did a few bits and pieces but seems to have kept it more as a scruffy piece of art as he never actually registered it here for road use.

Elan.jpeg

It was running pretty well a couple of years ago, he got it through the MOT type test and had to change the fuel pump. I bought it a month or so ago as a project, once again it wasn't running at that time. Easily diagnosed as a dead fuel pump, so I replaced that with a generic 3rd party type item which has more than enough performance if you believe the specs. Bench tested the fuel pump before fitting and also could hear it running in the car when the key was turned.

Even after fitting that, it wouldn't start. Strange, there is good spark etc and you can smell fuel is getting through into the cylinders. As everything has gone a long time unused and parts are so cheap I fitted new plugs, leads and coils this weekend. Annoyingly I could hear that the fuel pump wasn't running! So whipped it out and bench tested and ít's as dead as a dodo. Will see if the supplier will exchange it, but to me seems a bit much of a coincidence that 2 fuel pumps have failed on the car.

I decided to whip the original pump that came on the car (to me) apart to investigate.

Old Pump.jpeg

Nothing obviously dead in there, it's a bit rustier than i would expect, but no physical damages such as burnt wires etc.

My hypothesis is that perhaps there is either a problem with the fuel pressure regulator or return. Could it be the pressure regulator is not returning fuel and somehow stalling the pump which is burning out the motor? Would maybe explain the non starting problem if there is getting far too much pressure in the fuel rail and too much fuel is getting through the injectors.

Is that too far fetched, am I overly analysing perhaps a crappy 3rd party failed part?

Thanks for any feedback

[clemo]

Hopefully someone more technical will come along with some advise.
I take it the inertia switch by the battery isn't in the off position. This cuts the fuel via the pump should the car turn upside down. its a very basic black plunger like thing the size of a golf tea. I have had this issue before.

Good luck with your head scratching .


Just looked it up on the wiki though i am pretty sure the inertia switch is inside the battery compartment on an SE , it is listed here on the s2
http://wikilec.com/view/Inertia_switch

[JRD]

Hi, the wiring to the pump seems good, it's getting a clean power supply when the ignition is turned on, this drops away after a few seconds when the system should be fully primed. This is normal according my understanding,

[wayne]

I've replaced at least 2 aftermarket fuel pumps in the last 19 years of ownership of my Elan, and current one failed last week.

I've checked for voltages at the pump when ignition is first turned on and all seems ok, so I'm assuming that the pump has gone again....

Replacements have all been locally sourced cheap replacements. Unfortunately, local suppliers are shut down so my car is still sat in my garage.