Ok to make a long story short...

Had to come down to Livermore Cali for a business trip (Hydra Nemsis ems training) which is 1500km (about 950mi) away from my home in Vancouver Canada

1450km and 12 hours later i get stuck in the middle of a highway in the middle of the night becuase my lower rad hose pushed off.
A fellow mr2 owner that owns a shop not to far away (chicoraceworks.com) came out at 12am to help me out and get me going again.
I made it to the hotel but i notice a odd buzzing sound. I originally diagnosed it as a faulty rad cap just because of the coolant line blowing off...i replaced it yesterday and it still makes the noise upon start up then goes away.

So today i have a off day and i drive around livermore just to have the noise come back and STAY on....i get back to the hotel quickly and leave the engine running i listen everywhere for where the noise is coming from. Timing belt area? No....Rad? No....Fan Clutch? No....TRANNY?!?...no....hrmm farther back....fuel tank...yep...i put my hand on the tank and i can feel the vibrationg and hear the buzzing.

So here i am stuck 1500km away from home with odd fuel pump sound....

Its a walbro 255 thats about 80k km old (50k mi),.. i wondering how long these pumps should last? Has anyone heard that sound before?

I am going to give the guy who has that mr2 shop about 50miles away a call and see if we can remove the pump...

Ugh....what a time for the stupid thing to die....

 

Hey Johnny,

Sorry to hear that you are having problems...Specially away from home

The walbros have been getting a really bad rep for failing. Ive had buddies who have gone through 3-4 pumps in a matter of months, so I wouldnt be suprised if yours bit the dust.

Hope everything gets sorted out bro.

 

Thanks man,
went to the mr2 guys place today and took the pump out....the filter sock on the pump was BLACK and filled with goo ▓▓▓▓. Barley could breath through it.
So the noise the pump was making must have been cavitation due to that.

To make things worse the fuel filter was very plugged up....

Must have been some nasty gas....

Replaced both the filter sock and the fuel filter, threw the pump back in and bingo she runs great! I think im ready for the treck back tomorrow afternoon...wish me luck!

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles.
Dont mean to hijack the thread, but I feel compelled to say something here...

Maybe someone can tell me what the deal is, but I have replaced in-tank fuel pumps on several makes of vehicles that I have owned over the years. Each and EVERY time I talked with the appropriate dealership mechanic (I have alot of friends that are mechs at Dealers) they always said: "DO NOT use anything but a factory original part when it comes to the fuel pump!".

I was stubborn, and thought I could get away cheap on 3 of them... Every single one of them died on me within months. The one for my Blazer died within 5 weeks!! So I ended up buying the factory pump AFTER buying the cheaper aftermarkets.

My advice now? ALWAYS get an original factory fuel pump for whatever it is you are driving.
My question? WHY cant the aftermarket make in-tank fuel pumps that actually work?

Again, sorry for the hijack, but I'm hoping someone can tell some "industry trade secret" that I'm missing.

Thanks,

James

 

a lot of ppl use those 255lph model w/o a problem.

 

Hey James,

I agree that with a stock application the stock fuel pump is the most reliable, but in this case he needs a higher flow performance pump to meet the fuel needs of his upgrades.

Doug

 

Hey Profuse,

If you do a search on google and type in "walbro problems" you will find many dissatisfied customers with failed fuel pumps.

Not to mention Ive encountered several failed pumps personally.

Doug

 

in your honest opinion, how did it failed?

i have not use the pump but friends of mine use it on their hondas and nissan and do not have problem.

ive come across from honda forums and supra forums, and those guys use walbro all the time and do not hear any major complaints. if you look at all the mods of supras, youll see walbro of 255lph and up are used. i can bet you Ryan Woon w/ hte fastest(sl) mkiv supra in teh world use walbro. thats what i remember when i last had my mkiii.

 

Total hijack! Whats hydro nemisis EMS training?? I'm currently training local EMS guys and I used to live in Langley......????

 

Doug,

Thanks for pointing that out. I should have read his signature about the engine upgrades before typing. Sorry guys.

But I still am perplexed by my original question!

James