How install mechanical fuel pump to the felicia

[ObedP]

Hello everyone.

 

My Skoda Felicia came with an electric fuel pump. Previous owner's idea. It was running fine for like two years but just a few days ago the car started dying  while running. The engine going off as if I had run out of fuel. Waited for a few seconds, start the car again and it was fine until demanding more power/fuel: the car would die again while driving.

 

The electric fuel pump is of course an ordinary/universal fuel pump. But now is shaky and has this loud, continuous clicking noise it didn't do before. So a mechanic told me that the fuel pump was going out.

 

The reason, I think, previous owner switched to this electric fuel pump instead of the one that came with the car is that somehow it got damaged. I took it off and saw a lot of grey sealant. The reason for this is that the plastic spacer is broken in three areas, thus allowing vacuum to go out. Here in Dominican Republic to get that spacer is a bit hard. I could order it from Europe but it costs. There is a place here where they make the spacer using strong/thick rubber. I have already bought the mechanical fuel pump that comes with the Felicia but the store didn't have the spacer. 

 

Do you think it would matter if I use the rubber spacer with the same dimensions as the original? How do I install the mechanical fuel pump? Is just matter of sticking in the rocker arm, and put the bolt and nuts? Or needs the rocker arm to be inserted in an specific way? Also, is it true that an electric pump would perform better than this mechanical fuel pump?

 

Thank you for your kind help.   

[RicardoM]

15 hours ago, ObedP said:

The reason for this is that the plastic spacer is broken in three areas, thus allowing vacuum to go out.

Not even close. The spacer needs gaskets on both sides not because the vacuum "goes out"  but because the engine oil might get out.

15 hours ago, ObedP said:

Do you think it would matter if I use the rubber spacer with the same dimensions as the original?

No. The spacer is there for the lever of the fuel pump to be engaged properly with the cam on the camshaft thus ensuring the required fuel flow and pressure gets to the carburetor.

15 hours ago, ObedP said:

How do I install the mechanical fuel pump? Is just matter of sticking in the rocker arm, and put the bolt and nuts?

Yes.

15 hours ago, ObedP said:

Also, is it true that an electric pump would perform better than this mechanical fuel pump?

Define "better".

[ObedP]

 

Thank you very much Ricardo for your answers. I really appreciate your help. I'm sorry that sometimes the way I explain my problems with the car is not well described or accurate. I recognize I lack the technical terminology. 

 

About the electric fuel pump being "better" than the mechanical one... this is just something I use to hear from some mechanics here, that an electric fuel pump is more efficient at sending fuel with more pressure to the carb. That's them using the term "better". I just wanted to know if that's true or false, as Skoda decided not  to install this mechanical pump anymore but go electric.

 

I was able to get the spacer from an old Felicia. It is in good shape, like new. I bought two gaskets for each side of the spacer, cleaned well the area where the spacer goes attached to, installed the pump, hoses, turned on the car and everything is smooth. One thing caught my attention though. Since having this car, the fuel filter was always half empty. It was like that for more than two years, so I thought it was the normal behavior. But with this new mechanical pump, now the fuel  filter is full, having only a small air pocket at the top. Is that normal? I was reading from this site a very interesting discussion about that: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1661558/fluid-dynamics-of-an-empty-looking-fuel-filter

 

Again, thank you very much Ricardo. Your in-depth knowledge about the mechanic of the Felicia helps us all here.

[RicardoM]

3 minutes ago, ObedP said:

I'm sorry that sometimes the way I explain my problems with the car is not well described or accurate. I recognize I lack the technical terminology. 

In this case it is not about that. It is that the words "better" or "best" can have different comparison parameters. You cleared things by mentioning the output pressure of the fuel pump. Based on that parameter, my opinion is that for Felicia on carburetor it is better to use the mechanical pump. Here is why: a carburetor doesn't need high pressure fuel input to work properly, like injection cars do. The carburetor needs just enough fuel flow to keep the float level constant at any engine load. Too much pressure can be in fact detrimental. High pressure can overcome the counter-pressure of the float thus flooding the carburetor. Luckily for Felicia, there is a vapor separator 'cup' between fuel pump and carburetor. That device acts somehow like a fuel return valve and dumps excess fuel back to fuel tank.

 

34 minutes ago, ObedP said:

But with this new mechanical pump, now the fuel  filter is full, having only a small air pocket at the top. Is that normal?

Yes. Let the engine consume once all fuel in the tank (thus the pump suck air) and you'll have again a half full fuel filter. One other cause could be a slightly different position of the fuel filter so that it is not at the highest point between the tank and the pump. One last cause could be there is better seal between fuel rubber hoses and fuel lines.

[ObedP]

Got it.

 

Well, I think then the installation of the fuel pump is done, fine and working properly. Thanks for your help and clear explanations Ricardo.

 

Greetings from DR.

 

OP