The dreaded fuel pump issue...

[KingRat]

Hi folks... back after a long time.

My Cougar has been a sad story. Its a 2001 manual SW. Car has done about 180k's overall. Replaced the engine a couple of years ago with 80K's on it. After that, it ran alright for a few months... but did have that issue where it lost power in the 3rd and 4th gears at highish revs and died on me a couple of times when the fuel was lowish, but I put it as a faulty fuel gauge and filling it up would have it running fine again.

Then it started misbehaving with engine cranking but not turning over randomly. Got left stranded at the mall and carpark a couple of times and then after 10-15 minutes, it would just start and run normally for a few days... then one day in my garage, it just did the same thing and never started... I had another car so kept driving the other....

The Cougar kept sitting in the garage for a few months (had a new battery)... and then the battery died and stopped turning over....

Brought over a mechanic and he took my battery and charged it up but the battery was fked... so I bought a new battery, put it back on... and the car started again! and the mechanic kept it for a few days and had a look and basically said, it was just a faulty battery and the car has been running fine for him. Serviced it, excited, I started driving... sadly only lasted half a day :(

The car started losing power miserably on the freeway, with a full tank, and basically became undrivable... struggled to get it back to the mechanic... he checked it up again... we ended up replacing the fuel pump(some after market Bosch one)... and it ran okay for a day... and then started misbehaving again... took it back, where he had a look, tweaked a couple of things, but drove alright while it was with him... I took it back and it drove alright for me for a day or two,,, and I was busy moving house.. so didnt drive it much for those couple of days... and brought it over to the new place, and used it a couple of times without problems, but then started noticing that in third or fourth gear, after 3000 rpm's it was literally completely losing power and stopping... so carefully drove it back to my garage.... and is again sitting in my garage undrivable... a bit far from that mechanic and have been busy travelling with work so the Cougar has been left neglected again in the garage... and it has been a couple of months.... sad.

Having gone through the threads and researched on the net and it looks like this fuel pump issue is a real pain in the ****...

Any suggestions? I still feel it is just the fuel delivery to the engine that isn't happening properly... was hoping replacing the fuel pump would help but I think it was made it worse... Is there something I can do to get it back on the road? I have thought about selling it but its funny how every time it is back alive, I change my mind and want to keep it.... love its drive when its running well... but for the past couple of years.... it hasnt been driven much at all...

Need help. I am in Melbourne. Any good mechanics that can help?

[thearrow]

The ONLY way you can fix your fuel pumps to get a replacement OEM and the only place you can get one from is below.

Craig Stirling
Technical Advisor

SMPE Bromsgrove Office Phone 01527 835555
Buntsford Hill Business Park Fax 01527 831111
Bromsgrove, B60 3DX
United Kingdom Website www.smpe.co.uk

I am having the same issue but not as bad as you and was going to replace mine but had to spend all my $$$ on a replacement gearbox instead so I am hoping the fuel pump will last into the new year.

A replacement is NOT CHEAP but it is the ONLY way you will get back on the road.

Let us know how you get on.

[AD26]

There was a recall in the US on the returnless cougars regarding the fuel pump.. sadly it's not in effect in Australia but I bought the revised replacement unit(it's a hanger assembly instead of being attached to the tank floor) for my car to stop the 1/4 tank pump issue. Motorcraft PFS-289 is the part you need, I think it was about 320 and then another 180 for labour. There's 2 ways to do the job and they both look easy enough to do but I didn't want to enter the tank under the back seats cutting a hole lol and I don't have the space to work on my car at my new unit.

Regarding the power loss at higher rpm, is it only 3rd and 4th? Could be the IMRC(located under the plastic at the front) which controls your secondaries that kick in around this rev range.

[bobofkew]

2000 SW Auto 140,000kms has just been sold; over the period I owned the car I had the fuel pump issue several times replacing 3 pumps.

With the last pump replacement I had the pump tested when it was removed and it tested OK which caused the dealer service department to re-investigate the issue further. They did not really come up with an answer but exchanged the EFI and Fuel Pump Relays which appeared to give a more satisfactory result.

However, the correct answer is not to let the fuel tank level fall below 1/4 (and do not overfill the tank) and even then, when the fuel tank quantity gets low the is a tendency for the engine to misfire.

Since selling the vehicle I have available For Sale 1 Fuel Pump/Sender Unit which was removed form my vehicle, tested and found serviceable with the test certification available.

I am asking $325 for this pump plus postage at your cost (located Eastern Suburbs Melbourne) Last time I checked Ford wanted $2750 for the pump Sender unit; wreckers Price around $375 and last time I checked Mercury dealer ine the US U$465 plus UPS?Fedex

Contact me here with PM or check eBay and Gumtree where the pump is advertised.