For good prices on parts, I haven't found any better than Rock Auto (other than a wrecker), though others here may differ.

The hoses you just have to fight with.  That it's turning is a good start; beyond that, sometimes slipping a really skinny little screwdriver between the hose and the pipe will help loosen it.  And if you can push on the end of the hose rather than pulling on it, it'll tend to expand and slide off rather than squeeze tighter.  I suppose squirting a little lube like WD-40 between the hose and pipe may help as well, without causing any problems.

That's what I was wondering, if it was safe to use WD-40. I'll try that (and the skinny screwdriver and pushing) after lunch. Thanks, again. 

EDIT: Oh, and that's another problem. I can't get anything delivered by UPS. They had a hard enough time negotiating my driveway when there wasn't a car blocking the turn-around spot. Now, it would be impossible for them and their big truck. 

 

Edited January 3, 20197 yr by xntryk1

Well, or another carrier (USPS?), or leave a note saying "sorry for the blocked driveway, please leave package in car", or deliver to a neighbor, or...

Definitely USPS. My mailbox is only a 1/4 mile away. I can walk that. Even though it's mostly uphill going, it is mostly downhill coming back. 

Why, you're lucky.  Around here, we walk uphill both ways.

(For anyone wondering - and those who weren't - Monty Python were ripping off Stephen Leacock when they did that bit - Cleese admitted it.)

 

You can use a generic pump. They come with the connector and the pickup sock. We routinely retrofit high volume pumps into all kinds of cars. Just get a deatschwerks or a AEM kit for an 02 WRX. It will fit fine. 

GD

Ha-ha! jonathan909! 

And thank you, GD! That's exactly what I'll do. I don't have much choice but to always go the cheapest possible route. 

And joila! It's out. 

 

 

Edited January 3, 20197 yr by xntryk1

1 hour ago, GeneralDisorder said:

You can use a generic pump. They come with the connector and the pickup sock. We routinely retrofit high volume pumps into all kinds of cars. Just get a deatschwerks or a AEM kit for an 02 WRX. It will fit fine. 

GD

I'm noticing that none of the generic pumps seems to have the thick rubber seat for the bottom of the pump that fits into the metal bracket. And the generic pumps don't seem like they will fit into the rubber seat that I've got. How to get around that?

You really don't need the rubber isolator with the new turbine style pumps. I've installed many right on the metal bracket. They are virtually silent. You can carve up the old one with a utility blade to make it fit as well as possible, and anchor the pump to the bracket with a standard hose clamp. Splice the wires and drop it in. That is assuming it's bad. You can bench test it but that may not tell the whole story - once you disturb the pump they often will work again. So since you are this far you should 100% replace the pump to rule out an intermittent brush contact issue. 

GD

4 minutes ago, GeneralDisorder said:

You really don't need the rubber isolator with the new turbine style pumps. I've installed many right on the metal bracket. They are virtually silent. You can carve up the old one with a utility blade to make it fit as well as possible, and anchor the pump to the bracket with a standard hose clamp. Splice the wires and drop it in. That is assuming it's bad. You can bench test it but that may not tell the whole story - once you disturb the pump they often will work again. So since you are this far you should 100% replace the pump to rule out an intermittent brush contact issue. 

GD

Ha! Yeah, I'm pretty much committed to replacing the pump at this point. Just my luck, that won't be the problem. But I'm hoping it is, since I didn't get any life out of it with the direct connection to the battery. Anyway, thanks again for the response. I think I can deal with that. 

Yep..... although with Subaru's it's almost never the pump. I have seen it but then I see thousands. I've actually seen a 95 pump with the screw terminals fail too. It's an older design and may be more prone to failure. But really I've probably only replaced less than half a dozen for actual failure in the last 15 years. It's extremely rare. 

If it was a Chevy - it's always the pump. Put it this way - I own a Subaru specific repair and performance shop. I've replaced more GM pumps than Subaru pump by a very high ratio. And I usually only work on GM stuff for myself or friends and family. 

Just the way things go. 

GD

1 minute ago, GeneralDisorder said:

Yep..... although with Subaru's it's almost never the pump. I have seen it but then I see thousands. I've actually seen a 95 pump with the screw terminals fail too. It's an older design and may be more prone to failure. But really I've probably only replaced less than half a dozen for actual failure in the last 15 years. It's extremely rare. 

If it was a Chevy - it's always the pump. Put it this way - I own a Subaru specific repair and performance shop. I've replaced more GM pumps than Subaru pump by a very high ratio. And I usually only work on GM stuff for myself or friends and family. 

Just the way things go. 

GD

Is it true that pumps can die faster if you run the gas tank close to empty a lot (like I do)? I read that somewhere, which is another reason I suspected the pump.

To be fair, I've only replaced one pump (out of the six cars I've owned - not thousands!), and it was in the '02 Forester that I rescued from a country junkyard after it'd been sitting there for nine years.  Fools hadn't drained the tank when they parked it, so after I replaced the motor the fuel pump was the next step.  It was seized solid, there was corrosion all over the bracket, and the rubber mount had dissolved into a sticky gob resembling half a dozen packages of well-chewed Black Cat gum.

1 minute ago, jonathan909 said:

To be fair, I've only replaced one pump (out of the six cars I've owned - not thousands!), and it was in the '02 Forester that I rescued from a country junkyard after it'd been sitting there for nine years.  Fools hadn't drained the tank when they parked it, so after I replaced the motor the fuel pump was the next step.  It was seized solid, there was corrosion all over the bracket, and the rubber mount had dissolved into a sticky gob resembling half a dozen packages of well-chewed Black Cat gum.

Ha! Well, my old one's not that bad. Now that I've got it off the bracket, I'm going to try the direct battery connection test on it tomorrow just to see if there's difference. If it's still dead at that point, I've gotta believe it's most sincerely dead. 

58 minutes ago, xntryk1 said:

Is it true that pumps can die faster if you run the gas tank close to empty a lot (like I do)? I read that somewhere, which is another reason I suspected the pump.

I would say there is very little truth to that. The pump is cooled by fuel and you may get a slight temp rise right at the moment it runs out of fuel. In addition the total volume of fuel in the tank may rise a few degrees as it cycles through the system and passes through the pump more quickly than a larger volume would. But overall these small temperature changes would have little effect on the pump. Once the pumps sucks air the engine shuts down and when the engine is off, the pump is not running. And I've seen thousands of cars that are probably run very low all the time. I have never seen a pump failure I could attribute to this. 

GD

4 minutes ago, GeneralDisorder said:

I would say there is very little truth to that. The pump is cooled by fuel and you may get a slight temp rise right at the moment it runs out of fuel. In addition the total volume of fuel in the tank may rise a few degrees as it cycles through the system and passes through the pump more quickly than a larger volume would. But overall these small temperature changes would have little effect on the pump. Once the pumps sucks air the engine shuts down and when the engine is off, the pump is not running. And I've seen thousands of cars that are probably run very low all the time. I have never seen a pump failure I could attribute to this. 

GD

Thank you. Thought it sounded like hearsay. But at that point, I was grasping at straws.  

One last question, then I'll stop bugging you (for now). I've removed the old fuel pump from the bracket. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to connect it directly to my loose battery and see if it shows any life that way. If it still doesn't at that point, would it be safe to assume that it's dead?

Edited January 4, 20197 yr by xntryk1

Yup.

Correct. 

New $10 fuel pump solved the problem. And the pretend mechanic gets the job done, once again - thanks to you guys helping me!