Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) F.A.S.S. sound's different

[Beach]

I have the 95gph fass pump, and normally you can hear a whining when the truck is running. Today when I started my truck "9 degree's out" I could'nt hear it until I climbed underneath and it was kind of buzzing and not very loud. Is this normal with cold wheather or is it going bad already. It's only 7 month's old. I'm concerned because I still haven't gotten a fuel pressure gauge yet and I have already lost a VP44 which is why I bought the fass. A friend has a third gen and he has the same fass pump. The other day it stopped working and I guess the "brushes" on the motor were jammed or something. He pulled one out that was hung up and put it back in and now it's O. K. , is this common and could I have a related issue or am I over reacting. The truck run's and start's fine, I just can't afford another VP44. Thanks!

 

[c-hawk]

Definitely get a fuel pressue gauge. Number one priority.



I use mine on a regular basis to determine when my Fass is going south(three times in 3 years). It's definitely possible that the pump stoped working. I do not believe that the FASS pumps are any more reliable then the stock lift pumps, in fact, the stock lift pumps have been more reliable in my personal experience. I would love the Fass if it would just be reliable. It's capable of maintaing 14psi even when on a long WOT run, and i know my truck ran and idled smoother with it then it did with the stock pump. But if it's not reliable who cares.



You can check the brushes pretty easily. This last time mine quit all i had to do was replace the brushes. I guess i'm good for another 8-12months now.



Chris

 

[RAJohnson]

I second the Fuel Pressure gauge. And I on the other hand have not had any trouble with my FASS. Always been good to see pressure, and I have never heard it running unless I stick my head down there or roll the window down and turn every thing off :-laf But heck I cant even hear my Turbo spool up, but I know it does because of the Boost gauge :-laf :-laf :-laf My wife calls it selective hearing, but I call it to many guns and 24V Dodge's along with age and noise work environment

 

[tractorface]

Just another idea

Wow three failures. I would be wondering if something else was not causing my problems at that point.



An excellent tool for keeping track of your FASS or any other electric motor is a Amp meter.



If I was having any FASS trobule I would install an ampmeter in my truck (use a shunt so you don't have to route full power through the cab) Meter the FASS. Not sure what the draw is when properly operating but that could be figured out. Brad ekstram may know or should find out for you. Any draw over recommended should be investigated and would give you an indication of impending pump failure. An overworked electric motor (higher than normal current draw) is not going to last as long as it should.



_Either way I would want to use some pressure gauges and check the restriction (supply line to the FASS). My theory is that not all "Fuel buckets" are created equal and either deteriorate or start out life causing a large resriction. I had "pulsing" fuel flow before building my own feed pipe. Incidentally my FASS got much quieter after installing the new pipe. You can just put the supply line in a bucket of #2 and see if the output gets smoother Careful she will fill a 2 liter Coke bottle really fast :-laf



Just offering an angle tha may not have been explored. Ampmeter is cheap and is really a useful device.

Later

 

[BRobertson]

If you ever get a chance to see the factory fuel module, you will have no doubt as to the cause of the FASS failures. The FASS sucks the enclosure dry easily.

I have replaced my entire fuel system, from the injection pump fitting, all the way back, including the tank.

Bob

 

[MLeppen]

If you ever get a chance to see the factory fuel module, you will have no doubt as to the cause of the FASS failures. The FASS sucks the enclosure dry easily.

Bob

From what I've read the failure is the electric motor portion,not the pump.





In my opinion the only pump that will survive is one that uses the fuel to cool the electiric motor.

 

[c-hawk]

Wow three failures. I would be wondering if something else was not causing my problems at that point.

Tractor, I'm all ears. I will readily admit that I am NOT an electrical wizard. There could well be something that i am missing, but the reason i haven't leaned towards this is because it hasn't been one consistent problem that keeps happening. To go into a little more detail, the pump was installed and worked perfectly for about a year. Fuel pressure would be at 17psi and never fall below 15psi. At this time i was around 450hp. The first failure was i believe a motor that went bad. I came out of k-mart and started the truck and realized i had no fuel pressure. Shut the truck down and started digging and realized the fuse by the pump was blown. I went back in k-mart and bought some new fuses and replaced the blown fuse. Blew it instantly. Not being a genious i figured i would go up one fuse size and see what happened. This actually worked and the pump started running and got me home. I talked to Brad and he sent me a new motor which i installed (no other changes) and it ran perfect again. This lasted for a while and then i started having an issue where the fuel pressure would drop for a second when i hit a bump. I thought initially that it may be a bad connection, but ruled that out. I ruled it out because i could bump the starter so the pump would run, then get out of the truck and smack the pump with my hand and it would cavitate... and lose pressure for a second. The motor would never skip a beat, it would just lose pressure. I talked to Brad again and he sent me a different size check ball and a steel ball bearing along with instructions on how to replace it. He spoke like he had seen this problem before. I replaced the check ball according to the instructions, and it did help, but it still wasn't right. Brad replaced the entire pump. (Let me take a second to say that his customer service was excellent, at least back when they were willing to talk to the customers. Now one has to go through a dealer) With the new pump on and no other changes everything was perfect again, and stayed that way for about a year. Just recently the pump would start having trouble getting going on start up. I bought new brushes for it and replaced them. The old brushes were badly worn and with the new ones in, it's back to running good as new.

If you ever get a chance to see the factory fuel module, you will have no doubt as to the cause of the FASS failures. The FASS sucks the enclosure dry easily.

If the FASS was sucking anything dry wouldn't i be seeing a drop in fuel pressure? I've never ever seen this on my truck.



Chris