Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Expected replacement of fuel pumps?!?

Hi all. After reading the postings on the problem with our fuel pumps (car with less than half tank of gas, choking and stalling at high rpms occurs), I've determined that it's time to change the fuel pump in my CSVT. However I still have a few questions of concern.

1. Aren't the fuel pumps for our CSVT by production dates? If so, how many different variations came out for the 1999 CSVTs? Is it a safe assumption to simply look at the chart on our door jambs to determine the date of our vehicle's production?

2. If we're all replacing our problemed pumps with new pumps that are produced for a particular batch of production vehicles by date, aren't we all buying replacement pumps that will fail soon again? Or did Ford realize that there are problems with their fuel pumps and had already make updates to the replacements that we're buying so we should no longer experience the same issue? I would hate to spend the money on replacing the fuel pump every few years...or is this something I will have to live with for as long as I keep the car?!?

3. I've read the posting on replacing the fuel pump and was wondering how long did it take CEG'ers to do themselves? Both veterans and novices? I found a local shop that would do the replacement for $150, just labor. Is that reasonable? How much should I expect to pay for a job such as replacing the fuel pump? I would love to gain the experience and do it myself but due to time constraints and experience, I may just have to cough up the money and have someone else do it.

Thanks all in advance for your help.

This may be wishful thinking, but I think aftermarket manufacturers realize the weak points, and make improvements on their own. For example, some water pumps, another part prone to failure on our cars, are made with steel impellers, rather than plastic.
I paid about $225 for labor, to have my fuel pump replaced, so I think $150 for labor is pretty good.
But if you have the time, do it yourself. When I found out how easy it was, I could have kicked myself.

The 99's had two different fuel pumps. A returnless and a return style. Later 99's had the returnless, but I can't tell you from what date that occured. Yes you can look on the door jam for the production date.

As far as how long it takes. It took me about 3 hrs the first time including a trip to the store for some tin snips. I also fought with figuring out how to get the rear seat cushion out and how to undo the center sholder belt. After that it was pretty easy. I can now do it in under 1 hour, start to finish. The how-to is pretty good, though I'd change a part or two in it slightly.

I don't think there is anything you can do about the fuel pump life. My recommendation is to keep the tank about 1/4 all the time, this should extend the life (I don't follow this rule due to racing though). I'd recommend just buying the pump itself from BAT. They sell it for 75 or something like that. Ford only sales the sending unit (sump), and the pump for $225 or something like that. Basically all you have to do to save yourself some money is take out a few more hex screws and pry some plastic clips apart and insert the new pump. Saves you about $100!

Qbert,

You mentioned about changing a part or two in the How-To section for this task. Which part would you change slightly? I'm seriously considering in just doing what you suggested, buy the pump from BAT and replace it myself. Any detail assistance would be of great help for a novice like myself.

Thanks.

The first thing I'd do is tell you how to remove the rear seat cushion:

Pull straight up firmly on the two front corners. Once each side is popped press the seat cushion towards the rear of the car and lift upwards to release from the rear hooks.

I would also tell you how to remove the rear middle sholder belt:

Down near the seat cushion you will notice a small black plastic clip where the middle sholder belt anchors. If you look closely on the bottom side you will see a very small paperclip sized hole with a little red dot inside. Press a small object (ie. paperclip or small allen wrench) inside to release the belt.

Then I would change how he goes about releasing the fuel pressure:

I looked up the fuse number (found in the user manual) for the fuel pump, unpluged the fuse and started the car. The car should die shortly after this. You may still want to release some pressure from the shrader valve, but there won't be nearly the amount there was initially.

It is really straight forward after that. I found the hardest part of the job was dealing with the retaining ring and taking apart the sump (sending unit). Taking the sump apart really wasn't hard, just a pain in the ass because some of the little plastic clips kept clipping after I released them. Getting the rear seat cushion back in was a pain in the ass too because of having to feed the seatbelts back through.

Thanks a lot for your pointers. Nonetheless, I'll keep my fingers crossed hoping that the replacement will go smoothly.