have I damaged my fuel pump? | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

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Thu 22 Dec 2005 17:22

have I damaged my fuel pump? - richy

Ran out of fuel this afternoon, bit daft of me I know. I knew it was low but when I left home this morning at 530 it seemed to have dropped overnight almost and there was'nt anywhere open at that time thought I could make it to work and back. Nearly made it but it stalled to a halt 1.5 miles from civilisation. After a refreshing walk I put a gallon in and it churned over for about 30sec then fired and all has been well since. The car in question is a '95 diesel fiesta and does'nt have a fuel priming bulb like my previous peugeot and citroen diesels. I know that a diesel pump is lubricated by the diesel inside and should'nt be run dry, but could I have done any damage?

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Thu 22 Dec 2005 17:24

have I damaged my fuel pump? - Xileno {P}

Extremely unlikely with these old tech diesels.

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Thu 22 Dec 2005 17:26

have I damaged my fuel pump? - Spospe

I have done a similar thing in the past without any problems showing up.

In fact I am pretty sure that you will not have run the pump dry, as it will have retained some fuel even though the tank was dry.

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Thu 22 Dec 2005 17:31

have I damaged my fuel pump? - richy

Sound, that's what I was thinking but always nice to have a second opinion from knowlegeable sources. Thanks guys, and fingers crossed for the MOT in the morning!

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Thu 22 Dec 2005 19:17

have I damaged my fuel pump? - teabelly

Don't worry about the MOT. If the fiesta doesn't pass I am sure you can rebuild the 75 in a weekend ;-)

It might be worth checking the fuel filter in case running out has sucked up some crud out of the bottom of the tank. I'd probably run some injector cleaner after filling up just to make sure everything is as clean as can be.
teabelly

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Fri 23 Dec 2005 10:35

have I damaged my fuel pump? - richy

Erm yeah, the Alfa. Not had much luck with that, after having a good long think about how much would need to be spent I can't really justify it at the moment. I'm on the look out for another similar car and use 'ERIC' as a doner for spares. Trouble is 75's are so rare to find these days, even more so a 3l in good nick.

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