FASS-150 Serial # 495 doubtfull on life

[Mundgyver]

Hello All, It has been a long while since I posted a note. Been busy with life. A little history is in order which hopefully will yeald an answer.



On 20 Aug 2003 with 103,000 miles on my little Cummins, I installed a brand new FASS-150 with a serial # of 495. This was a preventative strike on the original lift pump to keep me ahead of the game.



The truck is my daily driver and now has 250,000 on it.



Last week on Sunday I headed into work to take care of some problems and noticed that my fuel pressure was reading about 1 to 0 psi. The truck ran ok with a 3/8th ID fuel line. Got it home and started tracking down the problem. Electrical OK, Filters ?? Changed in June of 2009, Brushes in the pump ??? Decided to order a set of these. The next day my fuel pressure was back to about 9 to 10 psi and has held steady at this for the whole week. The new brushes arrived on Friday and I installed them today. Old brush length is 11/32nds and are the original brushes with this pump. The new brushes are 23/32nds and are installed at this time.



With the new brushes installed the pressure is still 9 to 10 psi. So we decided to change out the filters. Did this and the pressure is still 9 to 10 psi.



The question now is, the motor on the pump going for just wear and do they make a certified replacement motor for this gearator style pump.



I look forward to your suggestions. Thanks for th help in advance.



Wally

 

[Hammer]

Wally...

The first thing I would say is with your pump having been bought before the lifetime service warranty was implied I would call FASS and talk to Charlie to see what,if any,warranty you have left on it. If there is none left then I would ask if there was any way to upgrade to a new system with a warranty and ship yours back to them. They have changed the pumps a few times since the early ones were made. Now if you have no other options and a new system has to be bought you have alot more choices than just FASS to consider as options and you couls stay with them or go another route.



The next thing I will say is I am no expert with the FASS unit at all and I am drawing on what I have learned with my own FASS and the recent issues I had with it pressure wise. With having pressure issues like your having I would say it could be almost any one of a few things. I am going to guess that you have what they now call the "Heavy Duty" series as they have the longer larger filters,not the short squatty filters. The motor sits on top in a T-Block facing the output side(where the fuel and airerated fuel exit) of the pump.



Under that T-Block that the motor is mounted inside of(it is held on top of the pump by 4 bolts)there is a check ball that on the early pumps was either to small or would wear with time and it will get lodged up inside the T-Block and cause both fuel pressure to drop quickly and/or burn up a motor(I had this happen to my first FASS motor). Now that check ball could get loose on its own or you could loosen the 4 T-Block bolts and wiggle the motor/block around and see if it fixes itself. You need to keep in ind there is a very thin o-ring seal under the motor on that T-block and it could be damaged easily if you move it too much. FASS has a updated check ball and o-ring seal they are now using so the check ball does not jam inside the t-block anymore(I have done that with mine here at the house with parts they sent me).



The other thing you could have happening causing your lower pressure is the check ball in the return line(this is the one that actually sets your FASS pressure and is loctaed in the nipple on the return line that goes back to the tank/fuel tank fill tube)could be stuck and have debris keeping it open instead of only cycling when the pressure is high. To check that simply remove the hose off of the return and take the nipple out of the pump(its located on the front side of the main pump body below where the main supply line goes out to the motor) and remove the ball and spring to make sure they are debris free and not jammed together. I also did some work with Charlie from FASS warranty with that as mine was doing some crazy stuff when we upgraded my pump to a 200gph unit.



I would call Charlie at FASS first and chat with them,bring up what its doing and what you have done. I am certain he will tell you what he did me to check before you go having to tear into the pump. Ultimately IMO you will end up having to take it off to ensure what I described above in the T-Block is not causing the issue but for the pressure spring you can leave it mounted to the frame just plan on a small bucket being around to catch the fuel in both the return line and dripping out of the pump.



Here is a link at the bottom to the trouble shooting guide. It was a great help to me and lead me to a long journey to get mine fixed up and armed me with all I needed to know for the questions I got asked. What I learned out of having my FASS apart as many times as I have recently is its realitively easy pump to work on and not alot that could fail. I have had mine on since 2007 on my 12v daily driver and other than early pressure issues and a check ball burning up a motor(its actually what caused the early pressure issues and was missed by the previous warranty man)when it got jammed its really been a good system.



Having got the service out of one that you did I would not be scared at all to mount another one and keep on trucking,but,its your truck and you need to decide what will work for you. If there is anything I can help you with here I will look back in later and see how you made out... ... ... Andy



Pn Edit...

I walked away without the link,sorry.

Technical Guide

 

[Mundgyver]

This is good information. I have not taken it apart and have been scouring the web hoping to find a diagram or cuttaway of the pump. I was with a good friend last night we were talking about the check valve and such, but not knowing the internals of the pump, you hate to just jump in without knowledge.



This gives me a directio to look at with some confidence.



I appreciate the information. Will keep you posted on what we find.



Thanks



Wally

 

[steved]

I would definitely check the return line SPRING and the ball... I actually had a spring snap in two and cause a low pressure issue. It is also the easiest to check and only requires two wrenches, with the unit remaining on the frame.

 

[Mundgyver]

All good info. I have a dental appointment this week and maybe I will jsut take to whole day off and work the issue after the appointment. Hopefully the weather will clear up and be sunny. I can deal with cold and sunny but rainy and cold is getting harder to deal with the older I get. Will keep everyone posted on what I find.



Knowledge is the key and knowledge is not knowledge if it is not shared.



Wally

 

[Hammer]

Wally...

I'll trade you weather to work on your FASS.

When mine had the check ball lodge under the t-block and burn up the motor it was early in November and the coldest snap we had seen yet. Temps were down at that time to the low teens and wind chills into the negative numbers and my truck was outside as thats where the rollback placed it when it came home. I about froze crawling around under that thing taking off and replacing the pump,LOL.



The Thursday before Easter my push-lok hose split from age where it crosses the frame while going to work spraying the whole underside with fuel. I was lucky n that one though,we had warm weather and other than taking a bath in dripping fuel i didn't freeze,LOL.



I feel your pain,trust me... ... . Andy

 

[Mundgyver]

I have a good friend that has a shop with a lift that I will be using this next Saturday.

Last time I had to do engine work in the winter was going up Gillmore Pass in Idaho in the winter time. The temp was -10 with the wind blowing and the old Ford Zepher Station Wagon was running good till I looked back at one of my four little dauthers in the back seat and inadvertenly drifted to right catching the edge and getting sucked into the drift snow in the borrow pit. The engine was an overhead cam and jumped time. The car behind us stopped and took my wife and the little ones another 80 miles into Salmon Idaho to my folks and I spent the next 3 hours digging snow out of the engine compartment, tearing down the ront of the engine to get to the timming belt and do a mechanical timing alignment to get me in.



Course I was only 29 at the time, but man it was a real stinker. of a job.



With a little luck, hopefully all I will find is a broken spring on the check valve. I have already inquired if they have a rebuild kit for these pumps. Apparently not. So we will se what we come up with on Saturday and go from there. Right now the pump is holding at 10 psi.

 

[steved]

Wally...



The Thursday before Easter my push-lok hose split from age where it crosses the frame while going to work spraying the whole underside with fuel. I was lucky n that one though,we had warm weather and other than taking a bath in dripping fuel i didn't freeze,LOL.



I feel your pain,trust me... ... . Andy

How old was the hose... I've developed a drip that I thought was associated with my aux tank plumbing???

 

[Mundgyver]

With the broken spring, what did you replace it with, another spring but where did you get it from?? Is it a standard size that we can find at a auto parts house or something special??

 

[steved]

My dealer sent me a replacement, I can only assume it was a FASS spring. .

 

[Hammer]

How old was the hose... I've developed a drip that I thought was associated with my aux tank plumbing??/

Steve. .

The hose had been on the truck since the install of the FASS back in early 2007. The shop that did the install I took for granted that they routed it so no rubbing was possible,but,it was not and it was my fault for not looking deeper at it. Where the hose came out of the FASS and crossed the frame by the rear body mount it had rubbed through and when it split apart due to the pressure it looked like a canyon.



I used the same size hose from Parker,rerouted it a bit,covered it with split-loom entirely and made sure to tie it off so no movement could happen. I also went back and covered the bypass line and the line coming from the drawstraw with slpit loom to try and do some preventive problem work. I am going to rid myself of using the drawstraw as a feed line shortly and install a Hellman Sump in my tank which I just got my hands on. I will then use the drawstraw as the bypass return and get that out of the filler neck as its a PIA there.



Once I took the old pushlok hose out I seen where it was worn through in a couple of other places and it wasn't long for the world anyway. Since going back over everything the truck is again real crisp and the pressure stays dead on 50psi at all times.



Wally...

If you call your local dealer or call FASS warranty you can get whatever spring you want or need to fix your issues.

 

[steved]

Steve. .

Where the hose came out of the FASS and crossed the frame by the rear body mount it had rubbed through and when it split apart due to the pressure it looked like a canyon.

I just finished replacing the hose on my auxiliary tank, and found chaffing of the FASS line in a similar place.



I found the hose rubbing the front spring hanger, where the hose enters the FASS from the tank. It wasn't too bad, but I took a piece of the old tubing, split it lengthwise, and zip-tied it to the FASS line to prevent furture issues.



I have nobody to blame but myself for the shotty install... :-laf

 

[Hammer]

Steve...

Blamed myself for not checking the work is what I did. However,when you spend the cash I spent back then for the pump and install you never figure that you should have to check their work,lesson learned.