Fuel Pump - Manual Control - Intermittent fuel pump stoppage 818R

[Rob T]

I am still having issues with my fuel pump in the Fuelsafe fuel cell. It has been failing to "pump up" on very rare occasions. Yesterday, it stopped working, twice, while I was running the car on the lift. I know it stopped because the car killed, but before it did, it went lean on the AFR meter. I have checked the relay, fuse, and talked to a few about the fuel pump controller, which I have been told tends to fail and then not work - not fail intermittently. I pulled the power plug to the fuel pump at the top of the fuel cell and checked power there, when turning on the power switch (no key on my car). I got 12.5 V for 2 seconds or so...then dropped to 10.5 ish. There is definitely power to the pump. I am headed down the road of replacing the fuel pump in the fuel cell. This will be a pain....

My major question is this: Can you successfully run the fuel pump manually? I was thinking of tying it to its own relay/fuse on the power switch so that the pump would be on all the time when the power switch is on - car should be running anyway. This would bypass the fuel pump controller and remove the variable speed functionality, but maintain safety in terms of the electrical disconnect on the car. Would this mess with the engine ECU in any way? I am not sure I am going to do this, but wanted to get some thoughts from those more knowledgeable than me.

Am I missing anything else in my troubleshooting of this issue?

[Ajzride]

Yes, you can run 12V directly to the pump as long as your fuel pressure regulator and return are setup properly.

[taco20]

Hey Rob,
I had an issue with my stock fuel pump controller that stopped working due to having a larger fuel pump early on in my build.
I have since wired in a relay that runs when the key is on like you said and have had no issues.
I did wire in a switch on the ground side of the relay to shut off the pump whenever I am doing any testing on the car with the key on
to keep from the pump running and killing the battery. You would be surprised how often I have used the switch.

Anyway good luck.

[Rob T]

After speaking with taco20 and Mitch Wright, I have ordered the parts (relay, switch, wiring, circuit breaker, etc.) to convert my fuel pump to manual, direct control but still part of the Master Switch and ignition switch circuit. Taco20 has identified intermittent problems with aftermarket fuel pumps and the OEM fuel pump controller. I have a Walbro 255 in my fuelsafe fuel cell. While it could be a bad pump, the folks I have spoken to at Fuelsafe have only seen two failures on this pump. Both had been installed and doing hard race duty for more than 10 years. Thanks to Mitch and taco20 for sharing their knowledge and experience. I hope to put this issue behind me soon and be back on the track 8/20.

[STiPWRD]

I have an Aeromotive stealth 340 fuel pump that came with the Boyd tank and wanted to bypass the fuel pump controller as well by running direct power. It may be that the pump had to much flow at idle but my OEM fuel pressure regulator could not keep up (idle ran way too rich with 12V to the pump). So I went ahead and picked up an Aeromotive FPR to try and fix the idle. Eventually I also picked up a high current fuel controller as well to not run the pump at full blast all the time.
https://www.dccdpro.com/product/fuelpro/