1983 Corolla Wagon fuel pump - toyota newbie!

[rcolosi]

Hi there!

I'm new to the old toyota world, as I just acquired a 1983 corolla with a bluetop 4AGE swapped into it. My aim is to make it daily-able, which isn't too horribly far off. I enjoy forums because you find a lot of information from people who've been there, but they're useful tools to learn how to more effectively communicate when it comes to these things. The more you know, I suppose.

Anywhoo, the person I bought it from did the swap. The person who owned it *before* him did the external fuel pump job on it for some reason. So the pumps been there since before the swap.

It's a Bosch 0580254982, which as it turns out is from a '77 BMW.

I had a video of the noise, but now I can't find it and the car's fuel lines are plucked right now. This video that I found, though, perfectly demonstrates the noise it makes.



The noise happens constantly as the car runs, no changes in pitch or anything. Every once in a while when I start it, it will sounds perfectly normal for maybe one or two seconds before starting in on the noise. The fuel pump that came in the 1986 GTS (the motor donor) was rated at 3 bar, the one that on this car currently is rated for 5. However there are zero fuel delivery issues. Idles fine for the most part, drives perfect, drove it 40 miles a day for a week and a half with no issues to speak of.

I just know that I can't trust it. At least for long. I'm mechanically inclined enough to replace *most* things on the car myself so long as they don't require extensive machining.

What do you all think? Should I replace the pump and hope there's no other issue causing the pump the cavitate (if that'd be the proper term), or try to find the issue before the pump fails? As I said before it sometimes sounds normal for a second, so I KNOW it is capable of making noise at a normal volume. I've also head that "external pumps are just noisy", but mechanically that just doesn't cut it for me.

Edit:

This video is a little more accurate to the sound. I dunno bout the guy.

[Matt]

Those fuel pumps are somewhat noisy, but what you might find is that it is starving for fuel and getting louder. Check the mounting bracket and see if there is any form of rubber in the bracket, as if it is missing the pump will vibrate and be louder again. I'd start with that and see how you go, but if it is a starvation issue you can install a lift pump too.

You could convert your tank to an efi setup, allot of people worry about the fuel and the battery voltage mixing together, but the fuel itself does not conduct electricity. The oxygen content inside a fuel tank is far too high for a small spark to ignite as well even if you dropped a lit match in there it would go out.

Realistically just ask yourself how much noise is this pump making and is it driving me insane. There are many guides around on how to convert the tank to efi, but usually when you do this due to the lack of baffles in the fuel tank you'll most likely get some form of surge unless you install a surge tank.

Hope this helps, let us know how you go.

ps. nice wagon