Fuel pump hot wire fuse blew

P

pmesfun

Active Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Hello,

I drove to work this morning with no issues. Leaving work I went to go start the car. The fuel pump didn't turn on when turning the key the on position like normal. I thought I didn't flick on the fuel pump switch so I checked that was on and still didn't hear the fuel pump. I pop the hood and check the hot wire fuse and it was blown and melted and as well as the connector. The fuse was a 20 amp from probably harbor freight. I replace the fuse with another 20 amp fuse from Napa and fuel pump turned on. I drove 30 miles home with no issues.

Could the problem have been from cheap harbor freight fuse or needing a higher amp fuse?

Here is the melted harbor freight fuse and melted connector.

e49f0c145af38017bd433f1bb67ecc92.jpg


e447a562cee5788b88e6c5efe9ec44f7.jpg


Thanks

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 
pmesfun said:
Hello,

I drove to work this morning with no issues. Leaving work I went to go start the car. The fuel pump didn't turn on when turning the key the on position like normal. I thought I didn't flick on the fuel pump switch so I checked that was on and still didn't hear the fuel pump. I pop the hood and check the hot wire fuse and it was blown and melted and as well as the connector. The fuse was a 20 amp from probably harbor freight. I replace the fuse with another 20 amp fuse from Napa and fuel pump turned on. I drove 30 miles home with no issues.

Could the problem have been from cheap harbor freight fuse or needing a higher amp fuse?

Here is the melted harbor freight fuse and melted connector.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Probably cheap Chinese material... Melting is caused by weak contact - it generates high levels of heat. I would check and make sure that the new one is set in properly. The contacts on the old fuse probably had incorrect thickness/dimension/length.

Looking at your pic, fuse contacts definitely look longer than the ones that came with my Racetronix hot wire kit


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
That thing got hot. Poor connections and bad grounds are the cause of overheating.

How old is that hot wire kit? Does it have the extra grounds at the relay that gets bolted to the tank strap?
 
Probably about 15 years old. The relay is next to the fan relays and is grounded.

I'm tempted to just replace it with a Racetronix kit, don't want to take any chances.
 
OP, FWIW
A buddy of mine almost burned a non-TR car down a few years back chasing a short. The dash wiring fried completely. Contributing factor was a HF Mexico fuse with MUCH higher protection than rated.
 
Last edited:
TurboBuRick said:
That thing got hot. Poor connections and bad grounds are the cause of overheating..................
Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct.

We are seeing a large increase in fuel system problems in our cars, mainly wiring because of poor or inadequate connections, bad grounds and inferior parts.

As we demand more from the fuel pump with increased HP and e-85, the stock original and the off-shore replacement senders are not capable of increased performance or continuous duty.

The crap China replacement senders are not up to OEM standards and they have sub-standard components, especially the wiring and connectors which cannot handle the increased loads especially when a hot wire kit is installed.

The 10ga. hot wire supplies more voltage/current, but the existing connectors, relays and ground wires are not adequate, and then we add a volt booster?

Go back to 1987 when we first modified our turbo cars, the stock fuel system was NOT able to supply enough fuel for a 12 sec. pass?

My stock car then would run 13.1, and fall on its face at half track.

We now add all these band aids, instead of doing the fuel system properly to protect engines that cost us $1000's of dollars.
 
pmesfun said:
The fuse holder is a 12 AWG marine grade that I got from Amazon.
Click to expand...
That is part of the problem . The 12 ga. fuse holder is only rated for 20A max , couple that with poor connections ( the melted fuse holder) and your over that 20A . At least you didn't have a 30A fuse in there or you would be calling the insurance company about a engine compartment fire ! :eek: The compete hotwire system should be 10 ga wiring with a 30A fuse and 10 ga grounds back to the battery . Sam
 
Ok, I have the car sitting and disconnected the wire from the alternator. I ordered a Racetronix hotwire kit to replace. Thank you
 
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