Fuel Leak! Fuel Pump Melting & Smoking!!
06-02-2010, 07:46 PM
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Fuel Leak! Fuel Pump Melting & Smoking!! I have had a slight starting issue for a while now...the fuel pressure at start-up wasn't holding so I have had to run the fuel pump twice before starting. Turning the key to the on position runs the pump for 2 seconds, then a switch to off and then to start and it would start fine. Since I NEVER had any fuel leaks, I suspected a faulty check valve in the fuel pump assembly (after consulting the service manual.) Well I kind of learned to live with the issue since dropping the fuel tank @ 10 or whatever hours of labor would be awfully expensive to fix something that was little more than a nuisance.
On Sunday I was running around town doing errands, then I stopped at the gas station on the way home and filled up the tank. When I got home and got out of the car, there was a pretty strong smell of gasoline. I looked under the car and found this:
.
Holy crap that was the first time I'd seen anything like that. I threw a catch pan under it and then jacked up the passenger side of the car until the flow stopped. I inspected for damage but saw none. The leak was obviously coming from the top of the tank, which is absolutely impossible to see or even reach with your fingers. I lowered the car back down and the fuel started spilling out again. 30 minutes later and a full gallon had drained out. I ended up jacking up the drivers side next to try to get as much drained out as I could and got about another gallon.
I searched and found just one single forum member that had the same issue. I contacted him and found out that he ended up cutting a hole underneath the passenger side rear seat right above where the leak seemed to be coming from. Much easier than dropping the exhaust, driveshaft, and rear subframe to lower the tank. His issue was a loose locking ring that holds in the fuel pump assembly. He was able to simply tighten it back up, button up the hole and move on.
I wish my issue was that simple. After cutting a small hole and looking around, it wasn't obvious where the leak was coming from because the locking ring was definitely fully locked. I reconnected the battery and turned the ignition to on while me and my buddy watched for a leak. Immediately, smoke started flowing out of the hole so I shut the ignition off and disconnected the battery. We opened up the hole more, here is a shot looking from the passenger side into the car at the top of the fuel pump assembly:
Looks OK from here. Now from the other side....
.
.
.
YES, that is a hole burnt right through the electrical connector piece that comes out of the top of the fuel pump assembly.
I believe I am pretty lucky to have not blown up in the car at some point in the past year or so. Now, WHAT THE HECK CAUSED THIS????
I have a maggie with a magnavolt (Magnuson brand fuel pump voltage booster) that I have been running for 18000+ miles. My buddy and I went back over the entire installation of the magnavolt system and how it ties into the fuel pump curcuit. Everything is exactly as specified in the manual, with the addition of the extra ground connections to prevent the magnavolt from burning up, which was a very common problem. The original fuel pump fuse gets changed from a 20A to a 30A when installing the magnavolt.
Now I KNOW I have never read about anyone having this issue anywhere on this forum or ls1tech. It doesn't seem that the magnavolt is to blame because there are people out there that have run them for a whole lot longer than I have with no issues like this.
My buddy works at a corvette shop and has a line into GM so he is ordering me a new pump tomorrow. I still need to figure out WHY this happened so I can make sure it doesn't happen again.
Maybe the starting issue I've had (mind you this is the only odd symptom I've had, the car runs flawlessly otherwise) was actually my fuel pump going bad? Could a dying pump cause this piece to burn up somehow? I bought the car used with about 36k miles on it 2 and half years ago so who knows what happened to it before then. As long as I've owned it I never ran out of fuel, which I hear can cause damage and shorten the life of a fuel pump.
Any help or ideas is appreciated!
Tom
On Sunday I was running around town doing errands, then I stopped at the gas station on the way home and filled up the tank. When I got home and got out of the car, there was a pretty strong smell of gasoline. I looked under the car and found this:
.
Holy crap that was the first time I'd seen anything like that. I threw a catch pan under it and then jacked up the passenger side of the car until the flow stopped. I inspected for damage but saw none. The leak was obviously coming from the top of the tank, which is absolutely impossible to see or even reach with your fingers. I lowered the car back down and the fuel started spilling out again. 30 minutes later and a full gallon had drained out. I ended up jacking up the drivers side next to try to get as much drained out as I could and got about another gallon.
I searched and found just one single forum member that had the same issue. I contacted him and found out that he ended up cutting a hole underneath the passenger side rear seat right above where the leak seemed to be coming from. Much easier than dropping the exhaust, driveshaft, and rear subframe to lower the tank. His issue was a loose locking ring that holds in the fuel pump assembly. He was able to simply tighten it back up, button up the hole and move on.
I wish my issue was that simple. After cutting a small hole and looking around, it wasn't obvious where the leak was coming from because the locking ring was definitely fully locked. I reconnected the battery and turned the ignition to on while me and my buddy watched for a leak. Immediately, smoke started flowing out of the hole so I shut the ignition off and disconnected the battery. We opened up the hole more, here is a shot looking from the passenger side into the car at the top of the fuel pump assembly:
Looks OK from here. Now from the other side....
.
.
.
YES, that is a hole burnt right through the electrical connector piece that comes out of the top of the fuel pump assembly.
I believe I am pretty lucky to have not blown up in the car at some point in the past year or so. Now, WHAT THE HECK CAUSED THIS????
I have a maggie with a magnavolt (Magnuson brand fuel pump voltage booster) that I have been running for 18000+ miles. My buddy and I went back over the entire installation of the magnavolt system and how it ties into the fuel pump curcuit. Everything is exactly as specified in the manual, with the addition of the extra ground connections to prevent the magnavolt from burning up, which was a very common problem. The original fuel pump fuse gets changed from a 20A to a 30A when installing the magnavolt.
Now I KNOW I have never read about anyone having this issue anywhere on this forum or ls1tech. It doesn't seem that the magnavolt is to blame because there are people out there that have run them for a whole lot longer than I have with no issues like this.
My buddy works at a corvette shop and has a line into GM so he is ordering me a new pump tomorrow. I still need to figure out WHY this happened so I can make sure it doesn't happen again.
Maybe the starting issue I've had (mind you this is the only odd symptom I've had, the car runs flawlessly otherwise) was actually my fuel pump going bad? Could a dying pump cause this piece to burn up somehow? I bought the car used with about 36k miles on it 2 and half years ago so who knows what happened to it before then. As long as I've owned it I never ran out of fuel, which I hear can cause damage and shorten the life of a fuel pump.
Any help or ideas is appreciated!
Tom
06-02-2010, 08:35 PM
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I had the same problem with my 06' gto. I burnt up like 2-3 plugs. the fuel pump housing plug melted. I heard that gm has a problem with the plugs melting sometimes.I believe my problem was from running the car low on fuel too many times,and the pump got too hot. here is a pic of one of the plugs when it did it over the winter...
06-02-2010, 09:56 PM
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Those are either caused by too high of current or a bad connection.... remember resistance equals heat, so a bad connection will get hot & eventually melt. My call is a bad connection.
Also a pump that is starting to lock up or the insulation is failing internally, will draw a higher current, so do not rule this out.
Also a pump that is starting to lock up or the insulation is failing internally, will draw a higher current, so do not rule this out.
06-02-2010, 10:03 PM
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Is the larger fuse for the circuit to blame for letting this get as bad as it did?
I'm going to be replacing all the parts but I'm not sure if I should keep the same setup with a stock pump and boost a pump or going with a higher flowing aftermarket pump and getting rid of the boost a pump. I'm only around 440 rwhp so it's not like I need a serious fuel system.
I'm going to be replacing all the parts but I'm not sure if I should keep the same setup with a stock pump and boost a pump or going with a higher flowing aftermarket pump and getting rid of the boost a pump. I'm only around 440 rwhp so it's not like I need a serious fuel system.
06-02-2010, 10:09 PM
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I had the same problem with my 06' gto. I burnt up like 2-3 plugs. the fuel pump housing plug melted. I heard that gm has a problem with the plugs melting sometimes.I believe my problem was from running the car low on fuel too many times,and the pump got too hot. here is a pic of one of the plugs when it did it over the winter...
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