Question about a VS fuel pump?

[James39]

Yeah I didn't think that it would be an injector problem, because I thought that something should've shown up when I checked it for error codes, and the only one that came up at all, was 64, which was the left hand O2 sensor lean, so I pulled it out, gave it and the wiring plug a clean (just used some MAF cleaner, that I had sitting close by, as I knew it'd be pretty safe with sensors, and pretty decent at removing gunk and grime), put it back in, and it seems fine.

That code might of been caused by the fuel pump, but you cannot fix an O2 sensor by cleaning it, they have to be replaced And I doubt a bad connection would cause code 64.

 

[Jxfwsf]

That code might of been caused by the fuel pump, but you cannot fix an O2 sensor by cleaning it, they have to be replaced And I doubt a bad connection would cause code 64.

correct and incorrect, a poisoned o2 (providing it isn't old/cracked/lazy) will clean itself essentially as the hot exhaust gasses burn the impurities off (say you accidentally put that can of 2 stroke in the tank), if the ecu continually runs richer to compensate for the faulty reading the carbon will just keep building up though.

 

[scrano]

Yeah the O2 sensor looked to be pretty full of carbon deposits, and when we changed the plugs from that side of the engine, they looked as though they were a fair bit blacker with carbon deposits, than the plugs of the right side of the engine. So whether the fault code saying that the left O2 sensor was lean, was causing the fuel mixture on the left side of the engine too run a little richer, and as a consequence, causing the plugs too build up with carbon on that side of the engine a little quicker, or whether it was unrelated at all, remains too be seen.

Anyways, I took the O2 sensor out, and like I said, I cleaned it with some MAF sensor cleaner, which I had handy, and did a really good job of eating up the carbon deposits, so we'll leave it for a few days, and see whether that error code gets logged again, and if it does, then I'll replace the sensor.

I did have a problem with that sensor a couple of years back (when I owned the car), that was very, very similar, that my mechanic picked up, and it turned out that it was just a poor earth connection (or something very similar), and he fixed it for nothing, and said too give it some time, and see whether it fixed it, or whether it tripped again, and it had been good ever since then, until just recently, when engine warning light came on. So whether it's just faulty, and it's taking it's time to properly die, or not, I don't know, but the problem is gone for now, and if it trips as an error again, then I'll replace the sensor for her, but I'll give it some time and see how it behaves yet.

Thanks guys anyways, the car is purring like a kitten at the moment (even though there are a few other things that still need to be fixed), but at least it's up an running, and actually serviceable, and useable.

Jxw, thanks for that tip mate, I don't care about salvaging anything from the pump, I'm just interested too see inside it, and see where it failed, whether it was just the brushes, or copper wearing, or if it was the plastic around the brushes that had started too melt, because she did say, that when it started sputtering and cut out, that it had a slight burning smell, and that it wasn't like petrol, or oil, or anything like that, and then I showed her that 2nd picture, of where those brushes had melted the plastic inside the pump, and she said that it did smell a little like plastic burning, so it peaked my interest, too see whether this was the case with this pump as well, so I wanna split it open and see what it looks like inside, just out of curiosity.

Thanks again for everything guys, I really appreciate it