To make a long story short, I've been having issues getting my car to start, and I eventually found that I am not getting sufficient fuel pressure. Just got done taking the pump out of the tank, and after inspecting everything, I found a hairline crack in the small plastic spacer that goes into the o-ring. The crack goes all the way through, and it expands to probably about half a millimeter or so when the pump is mated with it. The below picture shows the piece I'm referring to, though it is not a pic of my cracked part. The red line represents the crack.



I'm thinking this almost certainly has to be the issue, though I'm not sure that such a small crack would be enough to bring the pressure down to nearly nothing. Then again, I could see how a seemingly tiny gap might allow more fluid to escape than expected once pressure starts building.

I guess I'm just looking to see if any of you more experienced types can confirm that the cracked spacer is indeed capable of drastically lowering fuel pressure.

On the bright side, I've been wanting to buy the Supra pump for awhile now, but was hesitant to tinker with any part of the fuel system (I'm still a DIY'er in training). Now that I've taken the stock pump out, I've overcome my fear and realized it's not so bad at all, though the smell of gas will always make me nervous. Time to order that new pump.

Thanks in advance for any input!

- Jim

 

IIRC that spacer holds the sealing o-ring in place. Apply 30+psi to that situation and you'll get a lot of leakage and loss of pressure.

Dave