A word to the wise

[Max Lloyd]

I've just had a very hard time replacing my  fuel pump. It apparently stopped working and the AA's diagnosis shewed that there was power to the pump but the pump itself was not running. When I eventually got the unit out I found that the plug connecting the unit to the control system was severely damaged. There were obvious signs of over heating at the pin connections. The plastic had become brittle and the pins themselves were blackened. The actual pump was still working fine when fed directly. As the whole thing is immersed in petrol I thought I'd better warn owners of the potential danger in this model and, maybe others. My car is a 2002 XJ8 Exec. After asking a few questions at various garages I got the impression that several pumps have gone down and the general feeling is that they are getting past there sell by date.

[JOC Admin]

Thanks for your post Max.....very enlightening!

It certainly makes you wonder about submersing electrical power supply and components that consume enough power to char the wiring....although never heard of any tanks catching fire but when you feel how hot an external mounted pump gets under load I'm quite surprised that the fuel keeps it all sufficiently cool.

[Max Lloyd]

Thank goodness petrol is not electrically conductive.

Here's the old pump. it needs a lot of heat over a long time to do that to Bakelite.