Need some advice. Did some searching and didn't see anything quite like this.

After a long trip over the mountains had the car stall, wouldn't restart, cranked, no codes. Towed to dealer, they said that an internal hose (inside tank) on the fuel pump had come off. They reattached it, said they thought it would be fine. Car was running normally. I drove up into the mountains again and same thing happens. I take out pump myself and see the internal hose to outlet port is off. I reattach it and head home. As I go over the mountain passes, I notice that the temperature keeps climbing, but doesn't go past 3/4 scale. Cools back down to 1/2 after the pass. Go over second pass and see same thing. Just past the top of the second pass I lose power. Hose inside fuel pump came off again. Coincidence? Fuel tank was full, so wasn't able to reattach and no siphon hose. Tow to dealer again. Ask them to check thermostat, fan, water pump, ... They say 3/4 scale is normal and cooling system checked out okay. Said reattached hose in fuel pump and running fine again. Say I need a new fuel pump and that there were problems like this in the past with the 2003 STRs where the fuel pump would fail.

So my questions ...

1) Does this temperature behavior sound normal?
2) Do you think that the internal hose coming off the fuel pump outlet port is just a problem with the fuel pump, or could it be a symptom of something else being wrong with the car?
3) Anyone familiar with this fuel pump problem from before? I did notice that what appeared to be the date on the fuel pump was May 2002, so probably the original part.
4) Anything else you would check? Dealer mechanic said everything else looks fine. No codes.

Willing to replace the fuel pump, but afraid of getting stranded again. Only two AAA tows left for the year. ;-)

Thanks!

 

Both fuel pumps on my 2003 STR went after I had owned the car for 5 months since new. Good Luck with your problems.

 

There are many factors that would affect engine temperatures. (weather & temperature, engine load, engine load on an incline, especially with AC on) - as long as the temperature gauge needle was not in the red portion of the scale you should be OK - remember, you were driving in the mountains with a fuel pump more than likely on it's way out due to the loose hose condition, which was more than likely starving the engine when the hose came loose.

Focus on getting the fuel pump changed (I would also change the transfer pump also to regain 100% confidence in the fuel system)

Good Luck.

 

Have you priced a fuel pump for the STR?? I have heard they are $900-$1100 each! And the STR has a fuel system completely different from all other S Types.

I would suggest figuring out how to properly attached the hose that keeps falling off. That's your problem. Sounds like the pump is working fine?
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Could easily not be the pump (or of course it could be the pump).

The hose is cheap so I'd investigate it and how it should stay on more.

I suppose one possibility is that the fuel pressure sensor is faulty (reading low) and the pump is being commanded to pump extra hard thus blowing off the hose.

More likely (I'm guessing to some extent) is a partial blockage - maybe the fuel filter? - thus again leading to extra hard pumping trying to overcome the blockage.

 

A few thoughts...

1) You can get a new fuel pump from www.rockauto.com for about $470 - this is before the forum 5% discount code - Put 9595C4D4B2AC in the "How did you hear about us" box.

2) Yes, you can try to re-attach the hose, however, I would recommend against it due to the fact that the repeated issues of the hose falling off more than likely compromised the pump. Not sure if the hose if held by a clamp or pressed in place but if I was in your position I would replace it.

3) A cheaper option would be to find a replacement fuel pump on Ebay - again, this option is risky.

 

Just be very careful! The STR uses unique fuel pumps and many vendors will list the same pump for all S-Types. I would for sure call and double check they have two different listings for fuel pumps.

The STR uses both pumps instead of the jet pump/fuel pump setup the rest of the S-Types use. Above 3K rpm both pumps run full out supplying the engine with fuel. Remember that it's instant death for a super charged engine to go lean for even an second!
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I just checked Rock Auto - they list 2 different Airtex pumps for the S Type and STR - the one I believe you would need is the Airtex E8574M fuel pump. But as tbird6 pointed out - whomever you get the part from be sure to call and be 100% sure it will fit your STR. Let us know the outcome.

 

Thanks for all of the feedback. A quesition ...

Why do you say starving a supercharged engine is so bad? Doesn't seem to have done any harm so far, and not sure why it should be any more sensitive.


Some answers ...

Don't see anything holding the hose on, and reluctant to fasten it down in some way. Seems like if pressure builds in the fuel system you would like it to come off in the tank and avoid a fuel leak.

Pump costs $570 from the dealer. Going to go that route, since that is where the car was towed. Did see Airtex and Bosch units. Fuel line attachment for Bosch looked different than what is their now. Airtex looks the same, but was nervous that some adapter might be needed for either the lines in the tank or the electrical connections. They also don't seem to make the sender unit.

Did ask them to also replace the fuel filter, but would like them to do that once the new pump is in place.

If they get it repaired this week, then wish me luck for a weekend test drive into the mountains. Will not be a happy camper if it fails again. Will put OBD on it to see what temps and fuel flow look like while going up hill.

 

It ought not to come off, i.e. ought to cope with the max pressure, but I agree if anything's going to come apart then inside the tank is the best place!

I don't think lack of fuel would (probably) do any harm as there's a pressure sensor so the car can cut power, flag a code etc. It's the "(probably)" that would scare me, in case the software isn't perfect.

There's a module that drives the pump, it could be waht's faulty or as I posted before one of the other items.

 

Got my car back with the new fuel pump. Made round trip in the mountains and didn't have any stalling problems. Wasn't as hot in the mountains this time (~20 degrees colder, overcast and rainy instead of sunny). Highest temperature I saw was 241 on first big climb other climbs were more like 215 max. Cruising temperature was 200 give or take a couple of degrees. Cooler when going downhill. Used OBDII for temps. Temperature gauge got up to about 3/4 with the 241 reading.

Bad news is gas gauge isn't reading properly now. One of the tanks looks like it is always reading full. Was reading over half a tank and took 14 gallons to fill. Filled it and drove ~150 miles and reads 3/4 tank. Wish my gas mileage were that good. Hopefully float is just hung up on something or a bad connection and not that the new pump is bad.

Back to the dealer it goes. Frustrating, but looks like sone progress; although, I still don't trust it.

 

Did you get both pumps changed or just the one that was plagued with the hose issue? If I remember correctly, the fuel level is determined by the float on each fuel pump. At least it's the dealer's problem to figure out... keep us apprised.

One more question, did they change out the fuel filter? If not, I would strongly recommend they do so ASAP.

 

Just changed the pump that had problems (left side). I kept the original, so may take a couple of pictures to show whete problem was. They did also change the fuel filter. Yes, my understanding is both sides have floats and are combined for the gauge.

 

OK, If you could upload some pics that would be great as I'm curious... Thanks! I'm sure the dealer will sort the gauge issue out.

 

If you use ETM (Eng Test Mode) you can see the values for each of the fuel sensors, then rock the car and each should fluctuate.

 

Raw fuel 1 is 167, raw fuel 2 is 234
Filter fuel1 174, filter fuel 2 254
Fuel percent 221
Fuel driven 264

Think tank should be ~3/4 right now. Shows as close to full (over 7/8). Hard to rock the STR by myself, so couldn't tell if they were both fluctuating or not. However, I assume both sides should be similar.

 

Here are some pictures.

The first is for the whole left side pump.

The second is a closeup of the top of the pump and shows the hose that came of twice pointed to by an arrow. It is the connected to the output of the pump.

The third picture is a closeup of the hose attached to that connector (tank side), where it was coming apart.

This is how I got it from the dealer. They reattached the hose again before the new pump came it to make sure this was still the problem. Still not sure what was causing it to come off. I can not easily remove it by hand right now.

 

Thanks for the pictures!!

Sad to say you seem to have a one off problem. It has not been reported before. It's odd that hose is now nice and tight but fell off twice on you!!
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Got the car back from the dealer again. Said the float had gotten hung up on the hoses, and they just needed to move stuff around a little. They filled the tank, so can't tell much now, but I hope the saga is over.

It is a bit of a mystery how the hose was working itself loose, but as long as it doesn't happen in the new one I won't worry a about it.

 

Good pics!

I hope it's fixed. All very odd.