9000 DIY Fuel Pump
Introduction
Introduction
If your car is not starting you will need to do some basic troubleshooting.
The 9000 has two trouble prone areas. The first is the Direct Ignition Cassette and the other is the fuel pump.
It is pretty easy to swap out the DI cassette with a known working one to see if that fixes your problem.
If the car still doesn't start then it probably has something to do with the fuel.
1. Check the fuel pump fuse. On my 1993 9000, it is fuse #14.
2. Jumper a wire from fuse #22 to the fuse #14 and listen for the pump to turn on.
If you don't hear anything then the pump is most likely dead. You can leave the jumper on and climb into the trunk of the car and listen closer.
Before concluding the pump is dead pull off the fuel pump cover and make sure 12 volts is reaching the pump.
3. If the pump runs in step 2 then your not getting power to the pump. While turning the key to the start position, check to see if your getting 12 volts to the fuel pump fuse.
This fuse goes straight to the fuel pump, so if you are not getting power here, the pump is not getting power.
If you're not getting power then replace the fuel pump relay first and retry the test. If still no power, then replace the fuel system relay.
4. If your still not getting power, then you need to tow your car to someone because your car is really messed up!
If you have concluded the fuel pump is dead you need to figure out which pump to buy. There are 3 different kinds depending on the year and model.
Your best bet is to just remove the pump following my steps so you can really look at the pump.
My 9000 has the later style Walbro type pump so that's where I'll focus on.
For those with the later style, you also need to decide if you want to replace the whole pump assembly ($$$) or just buy the replacement pump which is harder to do but much cheaper!
9000 DIY Fuel Pump
Step 1
Step 1
The first thing to do is to pull up the rear floor and remove the pump cover.
Disconnect the plug so you can get the pump cover out of the way.
The plug is similar to the DI cassette plug where you slide out the red tab and the two parts separate.
You will also need to remove the trim piece that covers the access hole behind the backseat.
Since my CD seat does not fold down, I resorted to ripping out that piece as one screw is
inaccessible with a screwdriver!
Take off the plastic hold-down so you can remove the fuel lines and the other side of the electrical plug.
WARNING!!! The plastic fuel line connectors are very delicate!!!
Before trying to remove the fuel lines spray some WD40 or some kind of lubricant down each hole. Then carefully twist and pull the line out of the socket.
It's not the end of the world if you break one (as you can see in the picture!), we will fix it later in this section!
Now you need to loosen the ring holding down the pump. Take a large pair of adjustable pliers and
turn them upside down so that each end is inside a groove of the ring, then twist the handle counter-clockwise to loosen the ring.
Once the ring is loose remove it and pull out the pump. It is a tight fit, but it does just fit.
If you chose to buy the whole unit, then you just need to put in the new unit, hook everything back up and call it a day!
For those that went the cheap route, continue reading on!
Push in the four tabs to separate the assembly.
Pull off the electrical wires and then cut the fuel line. Try to leave a little bit of the expanded section for easier re assembly!
Pull off the filter element
Now for the hard part. The last rubber piece is a very tight fit.
Since it was about 20 degrees outside, I decided to heat up the rubber by placing the entire pump in the oven (preheated to warm) for about 1-2 minutes.
This was enough to make it stretchable and slip it off.
Don't pull on the lip of the piece as you will rip the rubber piece into two pieces!
Now that the pump is out, take a close look at your pump and see if you have the 6mm output or the 8mm output.
Usually a 3-barbed pump is a 6mm pump and a single barb is the 8mm one.
9000 DIY Fuel Pump
Step 2
Step 2
Now for the hard part! Some of the following steps are difficult to understand without the parts right in front of you.
I did not buy the extra fuel line offered by eeuroparts.com but if you end up splitting the old line you will need to buy some more!
First put the top rubber SOB piece back on. I again used the oven to make the rubber flexible.
Spray the pump with some WD40 or some other lubricant to help it slip back into the filter housing.
Attach the top plastic ring and insert the edge of the pump canister into the top rubber piece.
Now slip on the plastic ring to hold everything together.
Connect the two pump pieces back together forming one unit again.
Refitting the old fuel line to the pump is a small battle, but I found by using a hair dryer on the fuel line it became more flexible and then putting some Vaseline on the barbs, I eventually got the line back on the new pump!
I did end up removing the two metal supports from the pump base to make more room for my fingers.
Now connect the electrical wires and the pump is ready to go back in.
To repair the broken supply or return line you need to buy a new supply fitting from eeuroparts.com. Also be sure to buy 4 new o-rings!
The supply line will only allow fuel to go up and the return line will only allow fuel to go down.
Since eeuroparts only supplies one of the sides, you can convert the supply fitting to a return fitting pretty easily.
To do the conversion, using a small straight edge screwdriver pry off the end and remove the guts.
Use a small screwdriver to pull out the small gap ring.
Pry off the end of the old fitting and note how the guts are arranged.
Place the guts into the new fitting and slip on the end cap.
If you have the 6mm pump you might have noticed that the new fitting is 8mm in size. The new fitting will not fit back onto the old fuel line.
There are two options, Since the fitting is plastic, you can grind it down a little bit to fit the smaller fuel line.
This is the option I chose
The other option is to get an 8mm line and slip that on the fitting and use a hose clamp to hold the old 6mm line inside the 8mm line.
Remove the old broken fitting by using a razor and cutting the fuel line at the second barb.
I first cut a circle around the barb and then slice straight down to split the line.
Since my fitting was ground down the line does go on much easier, but it is still a small battle.
Again I used a hairdryer and Vaseline to make life easier.
Drop the pump back into the tank and tighten down the plastic ring with the pliers.
Put on the new o-rings on the fuel line fittings and insert the fittings into the correct places.
The pump is labeled supply and return to help you.
Run the pump and make sure there are no leaks and that the pump works!
Finally, install the safety hold-down, put the cover back on and call it done!