Fuel Pressure issues! Mmmm Mmmm Toasty!

[macatoni]

Long story short my fuel pressure has been acting up. First it was the factory relay then it was completely random when things would go in and out. Frustrating as all hell! I had recently upgraded the fuel pump to a walbro with a hotwire kit from g-body parts. When i was diagnosing the system funky stuff was happening. Sometimes id come down to the car pop the hood and the car would be sitting with 43psi at the rail but having not run in 48hrs! I did all the tests and it was so intermittent it would be impossible to track down. For example the car would not get pressure one night in the driveway. I bypassed the hotwire kit but nothing. Hoped in the truck and decided to fix it in the morning. Came down early morning ready to tear into it and the car started up no problem and ran fine!

Well it did it again and after testing the plug by the pump was getting voltage to the tank and the pump wasnt running i decided its time to pull the pump and replace it with a new one just to get rid of the last variable. Ordered up a new pump this time from racetronix and this is what i found when i pulled the old one out!!

Anyone ever see this before? I just placed another order from racetronix for the in tank harness kit....

 

[czimpel]

Good find!

 

[bpman1234]

how's it look like on the top?

 

[macatoni]

Top of the connector that goes through the "holder base plate" is visually perfect with no signs of burning or shorts. Only on the inside portion of the connector is burned. Still awful impressed at how far gone with thing went and how quickly at that!

 

[TurboTdr3.8]

I had the same thing happened also, very poor connector in my book

 

[Boost231]

That's what happens when you try and put a lot of power through those small pins. Might contact nick micale and have him fix it the right way

 

[dynoman]

That is exactly what I have preached about when having fuel pump issues , check the intermediate harness with the bulkhead connector . I had 3 burn up on 3 different vehicles , my WH1 , GMC pick up & my son's S10 . Good find . Sam

 

[scgnx2]

That's what happens when you try and put a lot of power through those small pins. Might contact nick micale and have him fix it the right way

yes and no, that contact interface most likely failed due to high resistance (ohm) and subsequent runaway temps. A bad wire crimp, corrosion of the contacts plating, female connector contacts damaged or not making proper contact are all common issues.
I would get in touch with the vendor as this could be a manufacturer issue occurring in production or testing. Certainly having this occur inside a fuel tank is a bit concerning to say the least.

 

[turbo89]

I had the same thing happened also, very poor connector in my book

Its not the connector ... its the wrong application for the connector ... there is a 14 amp per pin MAXIMUM .. the pumps draw more than the 14 AMP max .. couple that
with lower voltage and or bad grounding and you have a recipe for BURNT wires ...

Convert the connector over to a 4 pin and dual feed it or put in a bigger capacity connector .. problem solved no wire burning even with DUAL intank pumps

 

[scgnx2]

Its not the connector ... its the wrong application for the connector ... there is a 14 amp per pin MAXIMUM .. the pumps draw more than the 14 AMP max .. couple that
with lower voltage and or bad grounding and you have a recipe for BURNT wires ...

Convert the connector over to a 4 pin and dual feed it or put in a bigger capacity connector .. problem solved no wire burning even with DUAL intank pumps

No, the fuel pump is pulling like 7 amps on average it might see spikes of 12 amps or so at WOT. That connector failed big time and it wasn't a design issue.

 

[fastblackracing]

That is so scary, you can only hope that there would not be enough oxygen in the tank to support flame propagation with that wire acting as a glow-plug or arcing. Wow big time.

 

[turbo89]

That is so scary, you can only hope that there would not be enough oxygen in the tank to support flame propagation with that wire acting as a glow-plug or arcing. Wow big time.

If there was any flame or arc or glowing ... he wouldn't have been able to compose that post .. GAME OVER ..

I have personally seen a GAS TANK blow up from someone trying to weld in a sump with just VAPOR left in the tank .. he lived . but still has shards of steel he is piulling out. not pretty