Is Walbro the right fuel pump?

ThunderDave

Registered User
I recently bought a Walbro 190 fuel pump on ebay to replace mine that had gone bad. Before it went bad, I had a hard starting problem that has continued with the new pump, but now it seems it doesn't have the kick on take off to spin the wheels, barking or chirping them at best. Other than that, it runs really well. So I was talking to a friend of mine that's a mechanic and he is telling me I should have used a Ford fuel pump and not Walbro. He said he reads a lot of tech letters and using an aftermarket fuel pump is mentioned a lot as being a problem.

So does anyone know if the Ford fuel pump is better than Walbro? It had a Walbro pump in it that was the one that went bad. I'd hate to drop the tank again because it is running well. I asked him if it could be the fuel pressure regulator or dirty injectors and seemed to keep saying he thought I should have gotten a Ford pump.

Does anyone know????

Thanks,

David
 
Hmmmm?

Now my mechanic friend is telling me that if the fuel pump went bad, it probably messed up the fuel relay in the trunk as well and I should replace it too with one from Ford, NO he doesn't work for Ford, he just believes in using Ford parts. Has anyone had to replace the relay when their pump went out?

David
 
NCredSC said:
Now my mechanic friend is telling me that if the fuel pump went bad, it probably messed up the fuel relay in the trunk as well and I should replace it too with one from Ford, NO he doesn't work for Ford, he just believes in using Ford parts. Has anyone had to replace the relay when their pump went out?

David

To my knowledge Walbro makes the orginal "Ford" fuel pump in the first place. If the original pump was running it is doubtful that it affected the fuel pump relay although given the age of your car replacing the fuel pump relay would not be a bad preventive maintenance item. All relays wear out after a time particularly the ABS Pump relay (brown based relay on the passenger side of the firewall)
 
Duffy Floyd said:
To my knowledge Walbro makes the orginal "Ford" fuel pump in the first place. If the original pump was running it is doubtful that it affected the fuel pump relay although given the age of your car replacing the fuel pump relay would not be a bad preventive maintenance item. All relays wear out after a time particularly the ABS Pump relay (brown based relay on the passenger side of the firewall)


Duffy, the car had gotten to where it was slow in starting sometimes and the mechanic told me to try a new fuel filter. I changed it and the problem still persisted. A few days after replacing it, it wouldn't start at all so after posting about the problem, I concluded the pump had gone bad.

I replaced it and it still has the occasional slow starting problem, but it cranks and runs good. It has gotten to where it has trouble spinning the wheels and I'm beginning to think that part of it might be as the tires are getting slick, there is more tire surface on the road. Don't know if that makes sense, but this morning coming home home work with the raod wet from rain overnight, it spun the tires very easily without much throttle at all.

The mechanic is going to let me borrow his pressure gauge to check the fuel pressure. Mr. David Neibert has been giving me some suggestions on what to look for. Maybe the fuel pressure regulator could be bad? Clogged injectors? The slick tires or a combination of the above.

I'm putting tires on tomorrow and I'll try to get the pressure test done too and I'll let you know what I find.

Thanks for the help.

David
 
try replacing ur relay... mine went bad on sat and i spent the whole sat taking off the damn pump to find out it was the relay. mines would also have the hard to start symptoms like urs. now it just turns on like whatever
 
I'll try that

yeah, I was thinking about the relay along with a few other things. My friend that's the mechanic can be very (I'm not sure how to word it) but I've known him all my life and he's a good friend, but when it comes to car stuff, he acts like GOD and if you don't know something about your car that he knows about it, he makes you feel stupid. He said if Walbro did make the pumps for Ford, the one I got wouldn't be as good as one from Ford, huh? Does that make sense? They would make better pumps for Ford, than to sell to the public? I don't understand that logic at all.

He also said I shouldn't be taking advise from people on here, but no advice or tech info has been wrong yet. Some things have been hard to figure out, but no one has purposely given me bad info I don't think. How much did the relay cost? I wouldn't think it would be much.

Thanks for the help Darkstar, I'll probably go ahead and get the gauge packaged up to ship so PM me your address and you can send me a check for the shipping cost when I get that info to you.

David
 
oh. well the relay didnt cost me anything because i had a wiring harness from a 89 LX lying around but i called AUTOZONE and they said 12.99. thanx
 
darkstar_one said:
oh. well the relay didnt cost me anything because i had a wiring harness from a 89 LX lying around but i called AUTOZONE and they said 12.99. thanx

I got a relay for $10 and change and so far so good. I'll see later on if it still has the problem. Thanks agin for the help.

David
 
YEP! It's still doing it. I'm gonna check the fuel pressure today, but does anyone think it could be something electrical, like the DIS or coil pac?

David
 
Describe "hard starting".

Check your fuel pressure so you can eliminate that variable. Check it both with the engine running, and then see how long it can hold pressure once the vehicle is turned off.

Have you been tracking your fuel usage? Do you have a strong fuel smell when parked?

Proper pressure is:
Key On Engine Off 35 - 45 psi
Key On Engine Running 30 - 40 psi

If you have proper pressure, and you don't see the pressure leaking down over the period of an hour, then a fuel problem is less likely. It's still possible the fuel pump can maintain pressure, but not able to achieve flow. But that test requires a little more effort that would make me want to look else where first.

And tell your friend that it's attitudes like his that keeps SC owners away from Ford Dealerships.
 
Mike, I'm getting ready to go buy a fuel pressure test kit right now. The fuel mileage is as good as before doing the (pump, filter) and maybe a little better now. I don't have any signs of leaks and there is no fuel odor at all. The fuel pressure seems to be the consensus to check next, so maybe the regulator is bad. I'll let y'all know soon. Thanks for the help.

David
 
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