Replacement Fuel Pump Precautions
Selecting the "right" replacement fuel pump involves more than looking up the year, make, model and engine size of your car. It also means choosing a pump that meets all OE performance specifications and fits the same as your original - Bosch pumps do, but many other brands don't. Bosch is, of course, the company that pioneered fuel injection technology.
To maximize coverage with the fewest number of part numbers, some major aftermarket companies have taken consolidation to the extreme. They have over-consolidated their fuel pump applications by using only a few fuel pumps for a wide range of car applications.
Because of the many different performance requirements and pump designs used in today's cars, this often causes performance and fit problems. For example, when fuel pumps from three of Bosch's competitors were compared against the OE specifications for the cars the pumps supposedly fit, some glaring shortcomings were discovered:
Example #1: One pump from Competitor A covers 70 OEM part numbers, yet has a fuel delivery rate 42 to 50 percent less than the OE specifications.
Example #2: A pump from Competitor B also covers 70 OEM part numbers, but has a fuel delivery rate 25 percent less than OE specifications.
Example #3: One pump from Competitor C covers a whopping 153 OEM part numbers but has a fuel delivery rate 30 to 42 percent less than many OE specifications and exceeds OE electric consumption by 33 to 50 percent!
Example #4: Some Bosch competitors were found to be using fuel pumps that are a different size or type than the original. Competitor B uses a 38mm diameter pump for 51mm diameter pump applications. To make it fit, they include a rubber sleeve. To make matters worse, the pump's outlet pipe location is off-center, which causes the pump to jut out half an inch more than the OE fuel pump. The same company also substitutes an inner-gear style pump for cars that were originally equipped with a turbine pump, which can cause unwanted pressure fluctuations and noise.
Example #5: Another trick some competitors employ is to use the same inlet filter screen on a wide variety of cars. Companies A, B and C all use only one filter screen for more than 20 different OEM applications. This results in a poor fit on some cars because of variations in the shape of the fuel pot reservoir inside the tank.
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To maximize coverage with the fewest number of part numbers, some major aftermarket companies have taken consolidation to the extreme. They have over-consolidated their fuel pump applications by using only a few fuel pumps for a wide range of car applications.
Because of the many different performance requirements and pump designs used in today's cars, this often causes performance and fit problems. For example, when fuel pumps from three of Bosch's competitors were compared against the OE specifications for the cars the pumps supposedly fit, some glaring shortcomings were discovered:
Example #1: One pump from Competitor A covers 70 OEM part numbers, yet has a fuel delivery rate 42 to 50 percent less than the OE specifications.
Example #2: A pump from Competitor B also covers 70 OEM part numbers, but has a fuel delivery rate 25 percent less than OE specifications.
Example #3: One pump from Competitor C covers a whopping 153 OEM part numbers but has a fuel delivery rate 30 to 42 percent less than many OE specifications and exceeds OE electric consumption by 33 to 50 percent!
Example #4: Some Bosch competitors were found to be using fuel pumps that are a different size or type than the original. Competitor B uses a 38mm diameter pump for 51mm diameter pump applications. To make it fit, they include a rubber sleeve. To make matters worse, the pump's outlet pipe location is off-center, which causes the pump to jut out half an inch more than the OE fuel pump. The same company also substitutes an inner-gear style pump for cars that were originally equipped with a turbine pump, which can cause unwanted pressure fluctuations and noise.
Example #5: Another trick some competitors employ is to use the same inlet filter screen on a wide variety of cars. Companies A, B and C all use only one filter screen for more than 20 different OEM applications. This results in a poor fit on some cars because of variations in the shape of the fuel pot reservoir inside the tank.
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