arnulfo de l.a. Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 I have owned my 65 rivi gs since 2007. So far, i have had to replace 4 fuel pumps. Why do these cars eat so many fuel pumps or is that normal ? I used to drive the car about 1000 miles a month but since i retired in 2013 that has reduced to about half. The car does not sit for long periods. I usually replace the pump with one from napa auto parts. Anyone else experience this ? Is there a better quality pump i can buy? What i plan on doing is permantly installing a electric fuel pump that will only come on when i need it. I will plumb it with two " y " fuel fittings. One fitting will be on the gas tank side , the other on the carb side. One leg of the "y" will have the electric fuel pump the other the mechanical. The only possilble problem that i can see is one pump feeding into the other but hoping that will not be an issue and the fuel will take the path of least resistance, that being going to the carb. Will do a bench test first.What do you think men? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbinator Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Sir, I’m sure you know this, but maybe you don’t. Many aftermarket parts for our cars are weak. We bust knuckles and out butt to put the part on only for it to fail. NAPA carries a product line Edrich (?) that has heavy duty levels at least in starter selinoid. The first selinoid I put on my rebuilt starter failed. The selinoid failed and it cost $20.00. I bought the heavy duty Edrich selinoid and it cost a lot more. The Edrich heavy duty selinoid worked first time and still works. My point is quality parts are hard to sort out, but the good stuff is there. Turbinstor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64Rivvy Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 That does not sound right to me. Mechanical Fuel pump should last near about forever. Could something be creating too much pressure in the fuel line causing the fuel pump to fail prematurely. I would think even really cheap fuel pumps would last longer than what you have been seeing. I personally prefer edelbrock mech pumps. Not sure if they make one for the Riviera. I assume they do. Raul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnulfo de l.a. Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 That's what I thought. At least longer than what I have been getting out of them. All fuel lines good and clear , but did notice I have a non vent gas cap. Thinking may be causing a vacuum situation making the pump work harder. Going to get a new vented one along with fuel pump. Weird thing is when I did an emergency cut in to the rubber fuel line to temp in a electric pump to get car home, the gas flowed freely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64Rivvy Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Are you able to tell what is actually failing with the pumps? Does it seem to be a mechanical failure with the lever arm or a diaphragm failure with low/no fuel pressure. One thi ng I just found on this was to replace all your rubber lines. If they are cracked they could be preventing the vacuum needed to pull fuel to the motor once the pump gets a little more worn in over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 3 hours ago, arnulfo de l.a. said: That's what I thought. At least longer than what I have been getting out of them. All fuel lines good and clear , but did notice I have a non vent gas cap. Thinking may be causing a vacuum situation making the pump work harder. Going to get a new vented one along with fuel pump. Weird thing is when I did an emergency cut in to the rubber fuel line to temp in a electric pump to get car home, the gas flowed freely. Your tank is vented via the hose you see looped over the filler neck when you pull the license down to fill the tank.. Unless your vent hose is clogged venting should not be a problem so a vented cap shouldn't make a difference. If a clogged vent were the problem, your engine would starve for fuel until you opened the gas cap. When you would add gas to the tank did you ever hear air rushing past the cap when the seal was broken? As 64Rivy suggests, find out what part of the pump is failing then go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnulfo de l.a. Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 Got it Ed .makes sense about the loop. Going to forget about buying a vented gas cap.thanks for the help men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY64RIVIERA Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 I am on my 4th fuel pump this year. I was wondering the same thing. Second one was a complete failure and i almost lost my entire car (Carter from Jegs). Fuel leaking all over under the hood. 3rd one (Precision from O'Reilly's) did not leak but I was not getting enough fuel pressure. If I lose one more, I'm going electric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnulfo de l.a. Posted February 6, 2020 Author Share Posted February 6, 2020 I just ordered an original rebuilt one off ebay. They come apart and the rebuild kits are still available. Once i get the bad one off , going to tear into it see if i can figure out what caused it to fail. Will post when i do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jframe Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 I am also wondering if the rebuildable ones are better as well. Everything today comes from.overseas, including the pump on my 65. These rebuildable ones seem to be easy enough to put a kit in as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riviera63 Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 32 minutes ago, jframe said: I am also wondering if the rebuildable ones are better as well. Everything today comes from.overseas, including the pump on my 65. These rebuildable ones seem to be easy enough to put a kit in as well. I am not trying to sway opinion one way or the other but, just relating my experiences. I put a NAPA fuel pump on my car 5 years ago and 9000 miles after the one that was on the car when I bought it had failed. Not only has it performed well but, my gas mileage went from 9-10 mpg to 13-16 mpg. Conversely, I had an original fuel filter rebuilt for my 1963 LeMans convertible. It worked fine but, constantly leaked and it got to the point where I thought it dangerous and I replaced it with a NAPA fuel pump. It performed flawlessly until I sold the car. The fuel pump was rebuilt by someone that had a great reputation and was someone I trusted. A rebuilt fuel pump is only as good as the person rebuilding it and/or the quality of the kit used to rebuild it. I am sure there are many people out there that can give pros and cons for both sides. Unfortunately, I think that nowadays it is a crap shoot either way. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telriv Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 I still have the original on my '64. It was leaking oil so I bought a rebuild kit for.it. It started leaking oil from the weep hole within 10 yrs. Take the unit apart to start the rebuild at the track. Replaced the rubber bellows on the arm to stop the oil leak, BUT left the original diaphragm as it was of MUCH BETTER quality than the replacement. Have bought a few kits since then & the quality of the diaphragm are all junk in comparison to the original. Thankfully I am a gear head since I was knee high to a push-rod & usually do ALL my own work. Not everyone has the ability I know, BUT for the most part these cars are kinda easy to work on except for A/C heater systems, BUTS there's ways around that also. Tom T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnulfo de l.a. Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 Greetings men, a update as to the cause of my fuel pump failure as promised. It turns out that it was the clip that retains the diaphragm rod to the pump lever that failed . It's made of plastic. As you can see from the photos it broke right through. The points where the tip of the red pen are touching is supposed to be one piece. So to sum it up its just a cheaply USA made pump.The fuel filter was also clogged . It was clogged not by debris but due to a internal metal bottom piece that separated from the assembly and covered the inlet hole .i think it was a fram but can't say for sure . No label on it. I installed my oem rebuilt pump yesterday along with new filter which leads me to ask where you men are sourcing your fuel filters from? The only ones I could find have a diameter that is way smaller than the factory riviera filter holder. At least the fram fit right. So far all good with the new pump. Man you can sure see the difference in quality ! Going to buy are rebuild kit for it. So there you have it men, hope this helps someone else having fuel pump problems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnulfo de l.a. Posted June 4, 2022 Author Share Posted June 4, 2022 Brought this back up because i could not figure out how to put it in Brtele thread about fuel pump issues .hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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