Surge tank pumps and pump pressure

[el-dub801]

Guys (and girls?)

 

I had an odd occurance happen to me over the weekend with regards to my fuel system... I recently (finally) got my car going again after replacing a set of keys (thanks Ralph Wiggum) and with that came time to start the car after some time being unused. I replaced my in tank pump with a walbro 255 and the bosch 044 that's attached to a PW surge tank as the fuel had gone sh*tty and didnt want to risk it. I also wired up a relay to the 044 as it hadnt been installed when I had the surge tank installed initially. Typical relay wiring configuration as per recommendations.

 

I cranked the car without the 044 hooked up, then plugged in the fuse for the 044 relay and continued to crank until I heard the pump stop and fuel was primed. This is when I experienced the problem - I heard a loud "POP" and a splashing sound under the car, had a look and found fuel splashing out everywhere!

 

Climbed under and checked all lines and fittings - no issues. No hoses split or missing, but what I did find was a crack down the front side of the surge tank where it was welded. I removed the surge tank and fitted the lines back to original configuration and started the car. No problems.

 

My question is... has fitting a higher flowing pump to the tank unit caused this?? I initially thought that I'd wired the relay incorrectly but since refering to instructions ive found on this forum I realised I could have another issue. I wouldnt think that having the smaller capacity pump feeding the tank and the larger capacity pump feeding the rail would be a problem with hydraulic lock.

 

Can anyone offer any assistance??

[k31th]

sounds like a manufacturing fault, to me.

[el-dub801]

I guess... for it to split the welds and NOT bust a hose is weird.

 

Although I've been using the same set up for a few years with no issues. I just hope the rest of the welds dont fail once I hook it up again.

[k31th]

need somebody like @arronm to analyze the metal to figure out where it failed

[el-dub801]

If it goes again I'll be fitting a 460lph and I wont be happy - considering what I initially paid for 

[arronm]

Did you have all the hoses plumbed correctly when the weld failed.

[el-dub801]

Hi arronm

 

Yeah I did. I dug out an installation manual and on PW surge tank, the top two spigots are to and from the fuel tank, the third or bottom spigot is a return from the reg/rail and obviously the supply comes from the poled side of the bosch pump. 

[Ralph Wiggum]

Get in touch with Kev from process west. I'm sure he'd like to see the tank that failed. 

 

 

If the weld was sound and the tanks had no external impacts/damage there is no way fuel pressure would be able to cause it to fail. 

[el-dub801]

I spoke to Kev over the weekend but I didnt mention the break. I just wanted to clarify the 100% that it was plumbed correctly. Ive had it welded up already and ill hook it up again this weekend. 

 

Fingers crossed that its ok. 

[Ale]

amazing , and all this time I figured all this high end, expensive locally made stuff was the ducks guts, imagine if this had been a Pro Flow surge that failed, thread would be 10 pages long.