*Rust Alert* - My attempt at saving another VR V8 Fuel Sender Unit

[vs-lover]

To put it plain and simple............................Goss pumps are Rubbish !

 

[vs-lover]

Hydrochloric Acid that can be bought from Bunnings as Pool Chemicals is also a good de-rusting product but must be used with great care and diluted to about 15% Hydrochloric. If it is warmed up it works even better.

 

[vc commodore]

I have used inox to clean up a fuel sender unit before today...IMA wasn't as rusty as this one, but had a little bit of surface rust on it...Worked a treat

 

[jeepster]

I do have a couple of questions:

1. The plastic return line fitting had an o-ring on it (which I broke)... is this something that needs replacing upon re-installing a new return hose? I thought the barbs and clamp would be more than enough to seal this up??

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2. Just curious to understand what purpose this unit performs when installed on the pump outlet?

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3. I'll be buying a brand new fuel pump. What's recommended these days? I'm leaning towards a Delphi. Can't seem to find Bosch anymore. There is also Goss or Fuelmiser.

Question 2 - that is fuel pulsation dampener. The rubber is supposed to smooth the pressure dips caused when injectors open with pedal-to-the-metal. If it is deteriorated inside the tank from hell, it might not hold pressure when engine if off, draining the fuel rail overnight. Probably hard to find a replacement nowadays.

 

[Deuce]

I replaced my stock pump with a Deatschwerks Fuel Pump and have not had any issues. I would recommend it as a brand to try (good quality at a reasonable price)

 

[LXCHEV]

Some sort of low pressure / slow volume electrical pump, a kids bucket for the vinegar, lots of tubing. Keep the pump input hose relatively high in the bucket so it doesn't pick up shite, and just pump the vinegar through the tubes back to the bucket for a few hours. When done, tip the vinegar and make up a water/soda mix to pump through for 10 minutes. Any old wiper/washer/fluid pump and tank combo of any car might do instead of a bucket/pump combo.

Now this is a magic idea. I had thought of using a low pressure carby pump I have to cleanse my fuel lines - but the wiper motor idea sounds excellent. Thanks.

Question 2 - that is fuel pulsation dampener. The rubber is supposed to smooth the pressure dips caused when injectors open with pedal-to-the-metal. If it is deteriorated inside the tank from hell, it might not hold pressure when engine if off, draining the fuel rail overnight. Probably hard to find a replacement nowadays.

Ok so it's just a dampener, good to know. Internally, the one I have looks all ok, so fingers crossed.

Cheers for all the excellent feedback.

 

[Skylarking]

Some sort of low pressure / slow volume electrical pump, a kids bucket for the vinegar, lots of tubing. Keep the pump input hose relatively high in the bucket so it doesn't pick up shite, and just pump the vinegar through the tubes back to the bucket for a few hours. When done, tip the vinegar and make up a water/soda mix to pump through for 10 minutes. Any old wiper/washer/fluid pump and tank combo of any car might do instead of a bucket/pump combo.

That’s the same process used to descale the internals of tankless hot water heaters. Lots of kits on eBay but probably a cheaper fishpond pump would do the job in this case

 

[gtrboyy]

Phew!!!

Was looking at pics thinking all that work OP not yet checked sender range was correct & yet it still worked under all that muck.

Bosch or DW or Walbro brands just make sure genuine although l

 

[LXCHEV]

Well I finally got around to cleaning the inside of the sender unit lines.

First up - a trip to everybody's favourite place - Bunnings! I grabbed some 8mm clear tubing and a cheap low pressure pond pump that runs off a 240V power supply. I've stepped up in the world and am now using double strength white vinegar for all my de-rusting activities...

Here it is in action - super simple, but worked like a treat:

At first, I was disappointed in the lack of rust and crud that I'd anticipated to see blow out. However I let it sit overnight (pump off, but lines still full of vinegar) - and the next day it was clear that the vinegar was doing it's job at breaking down the rust.... the inlet and outlet hoses were both full of brown. From other things I've been de-rusting lately - I think this is the key to vinegar, is letting it soak for 24 hours first, and then brushing/scraping/pumping it out...

As soon as I fired up the pump again - I found a significant amount of crud in the filter....

I then stepped up and switched out the low pressure pump for an old high pressure pump that my old man had lying around. This one I had to power from 12V. I have no idea what pressure it's pumping without any kind of restriction or pressure reg in the lines, but it was significantly higher than the pond pump. I figured this would help put a bit more pressure on the inner walls of the tubes and hopefully remove any last signs of loose crud.

So after all that I'm now pretty satisfied and confident that I've (hopefully) removed most of the evils here. I'll give it a bit longer still, and then swap the vinegar tub over for a water/bi-carb soda mix to neutralise the vinegar and give everything a good rinse.

I'm going to repeat this process for the fuel lines on the car, and also the fuel rails.

 

[gtrboyy]

Yikes1!! Double strength vinegar...luckily didn't come back next day to perished sender unit nothing outline on table where it used to be lol

Still got dampener thing that goes between f/pump & metal line...rubber inside will tear or perish potentially leak & result in low fuel pressure issues.

Last time saw Dr Terry to do f/pump swap in vp ute he said submersible f/hose shortage in Australia at moment so had to refit slightly average looking dampener back in.