Fuel pump died 10km from home on a cold windy day - almost no notice too - slowed down to turn right then no power when I tried to accelerate. I managed to get to the side of the road, then the engine died. I could restart it briefly a couple of times, then no go. I called my wife to come and pick me up and then had her crank the engine while I checked for spark (yup) and fuel (nope). I had the towed then checked for fuel pump operation ( no go). I used Art Benstein's cleanflametrap.com site with all the photos and commentary (most of it is in the FAQ too) and managed to replace the fuel pump and restart the car successfully. The tip about rotating the assembly 90 degrees CCW to remove it was bang on. In the FAQ the suggestion is made to tie the spring loaded part of the assembly prior to re-installation with some kind of slip not so the string can be removed later. I didn't really want to do this step if not necessary so as I was removing the assembly inch by inch I reseated the unit just to see if it could be done. By the time I got it out I was pretty confident I could re-install it withoout tying back the springloaded section. It was very tight removing the assembly though. I ended up tying off the fill tube rather than removing it completely because I had major rust on the clamps and didn't want to fight with them especially as I had already fought with the one clamp on the fill tube that is visible - it took me the better part of an hour to get this clamp off since it's so hard to stay all bent over in the trunk for very long and I completely stripped the head of the clamp screw. I desparately wanted to cut it off but was concerned about sparks so close to the fuel.
I've read a few times that these Regina fuel pumps are good for 200K. I would definitely recommend this as a PM project if your car is getting up towards that mileage and it is the original unit. Mine failed at 298,500 km, which is about 186,000 miles. The problem with it failing is you're stranded when it does and like I said it didn't give much warning (turns out it did give a little warning the night before when my wife was driving it, but she didn't mention it because it was pouring rain and she assumed it was our old grounding issue returning again) except some vague minor hesitation.
Ron
93 245
93 944 (186k and now ready for 186 more)
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