Walbro Fuel Pump Update

[GNVYUS 1]

Guys if you're wondering what's going on with the new pumps design you should contact Walbro and not Mike. Mike was generous enough to help us and Walbro out but our frustration with this crappy situation is going to burn him out since he's the middle man fronting the calls. Walbro's slow a$$ response to this 2 year issue should be in their face with our calls, not Mike's.

When you talk to Walbro, remind them everyday another GN pumps dies, that person is buying the Denso 280 and not looking back. I'm one of them and when the Talon's Walbro goes, in goes the Bosch 044.

 

[Dave]

I spoke with the rep at TI Automotive they manufacture the pumps under the Walbro name. The tooling problem has been repaired and is now in the testing process. They told me the pumps will be available for exchange the first or second week in November. MAYBE just MAYBE, before the expected time frame.
The rep was very nice and full of apologies.
Hang in there guys
Exchange from the company you purchased it from.

 

[qwic87gn]

Thanks for the update Dave! Maybe I'll have it running just in time to move it from one garage to the other for the snow fall.

 

[SloGN]

thanks for the update as i have had 2 cars affected by this problem.

 

[olds443]

I spoke with the rep at TI Automotive they manufacture the pumps under the Walbro name. The tooling problem has been repaired and is now in the testing process. They told me the pumps will be available for exchange the first or second week in November. MAYBE just MAYBE, before the expected time frame.
The rep was very nice and full of apologies.
Hang in there guys
Exchange from the company you purchased it from.

Sorry but it seems odd that they would put it back to their dealers to rectify seeing as it was Walbro's problem to begin with. We should be able to send them directly to the manufacturer, why should FT or Racetronix among others have to deal with returns, shipping, etc?
Kudos to Mike for handling this and getting this handled.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

LOL, hang in there guys, we finally took the time to look into why GN guys were blowing head gaskets. Then, after a known defect was found and instead of recalling all the pumps with this known defect, we let you find out when to send back your pump when you needed to replace your head gaskets.

My $hitty Walbro was off 8psi and lifted the head. I'll send mine back to them to replace it and never buy or recommend their product due to their lack of concern or professionalism. How does GM, Ford or Toyota respond to known defects, with recalls to limit the customer carnage.

DENSO 280 FITS AND IS A STRONGER, MORE RELIABLE PUMP!!!

 

[rmar]

How does GM, Ford or Toyota respond to known defects, with recalls to limit the customer carnage.

They back charge the supplier. They pay up for the privilege of doing business with them. Most they just
put out of buisness. Go ahead ask how I know.....

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Fine, but you found out due to the recall by GM, Ford etc correct?

 

[SloGN]

LOL, hang in there guys, we finally took the time to look into why GN guys were blowing head gaskets. Then, after a known defect was found and instead of recalling all the pumps with this known defect, we let you find out when to send back your pump when you needed to replace your head gaskets.

My $hitty Walbro was off 8psi and lifted the head. I'll send mine back to them to replace it and never buy or recommend their product due to their lack of concern or professionalism. How does GM, Ford or Toyota respond to known defects, with recalls to limit the customer carnage.

DENSO 280 FITS AND IS A STRONGER, MORE RELIABLE PUMP!!!

My pump in the eagle talon would just quit running and leave ya stranded.
The pump in the gn was 10 gallons and hour off when it was flowed at richard clark's place last weekend.

 

[syclone1452]

TI Automotive [makers of Walbro Aftermarket pumps] is a manufacturer. They do not distribute the pumps. There is only one warehouse in the US for those pumps. EVERYONE buys there pumps from that one distributor.

Walbro engineering has discovered the problem. They are getting the parts to fix the problem. The warehouse should have the pumps by the middle of November. Then, they'll have to ship them to the distributors. The warehouse had over 600 pumps on the shelf when the problem was discovered. They sent them back as soon as they got the word from TI Automotive.

All F20000169 pumps that are returned will be tested. In the past, Walbro has had over 98 percent of returned pumps run on the test bench as OKAY.
Not all pumps will have the problem. Any pumps that are tested to be OKAY will be returned to the vendor to deal with. This is NOT an across-the-board recall as far as I know.

Walbro engineering is trying to identify a timeframe when the problem parts got into production pumps. As far as they can tell, any pump manufactured before 2Q 2008 should be okay. If your manufacture date is before that, they currently don't have a clear reason to swap it out.

If Mike is willing to eat the cost of all F20000169 pumps, that is great, but I can imagine that would get quite expensive.

We are not trying to hide anything. As soon as a vedor learns more, you'll hear about it.

 

[Mike Licht]

Ron,
your information is not 100% correct. I am not eating pumps, (nor are the many other vendors who sold them) Walbro is however and we have an agreement worked out to get them replaced. I for one will not be shipping any of them until we get samples that are tested to my satisfaction here. As soon as that happens and we have the details worked out I will post the correct info and procedure. Until then I have no other info.
Mike

 

[syclone1452]

All I'm saying is that when I spoke with folks today, they said that not everyone that bought an F20000169 pump in the past six months will automatically qualify for a free replacement. Only the pumps that test bad by Walbro will be replaced on their dime.

 

[TurboMonte 2]

SO, let me see if I got this anywhere close to correct: Walbro will 1) test my pump for 5-minutes or so, say it's OK, & not authorize replacement thereof,,,but
2) my pump may likely pass this "simple test"--but still stop/seize up on-the-road about 1-2hr into "a trip" & leave me stranded,,,
3) as it did 6-times during a recent 2-hr trip ,,,and
4) my F'in...169 pump was manufactured well prior to 2nd Qtr 08--what's that magical crap date,,,and finally

5) I would therefore likely be a Charter Member of a "lynch mob" that's likely to be formed as a result...

 

[TurboMonte 2]

My pump in the eagle talon would just quit running and leave ya stranded.
The pump in the gn was 10 gallons and hour off when it was flowed at richard clark's place last weekend.

Pat--what's the manufacture dates of your two "defective Walbros" & were they, in fact, F'in...169s"??

Monte

 

[syclone1452]

You shouldn't worry about the testing.. they put the pumps through a ringer...'specially if they know there is a possible problem.

The fact that your pump is over six months old may be an issue, though... unless they find a significant number of failed pumps that are older than that.

I was told that the part that failed [from one certain vendor lot] has been in pumps for less than six months.

 

[Scott89TTA]

Not sure of the manufacture date on my bad Walbro but it was purchased November '07 from FullThrottle, installed June '08 and failed October 4th '08...approximately 4 months and around 400 miles later. It is a F20000169 stamped pump.

 

[PaCemkr86]

Your noble efforts are greatly appreciated in this community thank you.

thanks MIke

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Walbro engineering has discovered the problem.

AND HAS SAID NOTHING TO IT'S VENDORS OR CUSTOMERS TO PULL SAID PROBLEMATIC PUMPS!!!!
My pump dates all the way back to fall of 06 with 1500 on it and it's the new design F pump. Q2 of 2008 huh.

The new design has been dying and it's not until board members started posting up the deaths have we come to see it's not a Q2 2008 problem, it's all the way back to the new design. Worst part is that it took the internet, then a vendor to approach Walbro to finally look into the problem.

It's clear this failed part has been in all the pumps and some are working out and a lot are not. You can spin it however you want but don't be surprised when your GN sales fall off the face of the Earth after how you've handled this situation. You'll pull 600 pumps on a shelf but not the ones that are doing damage in customers vehicles?? :frown:

YOU FOUND A DESIGN FLAW, WE KNOW AND ARE PAYING FOR IT WITH DAMAGE REPAIRS!!

 

[87GNSteve]

DENSO 280 FITS AND IS A STRONGER, MORE RELIABLE PUMP!!!

I will never put a Walbro back in, to me its just like running the powermaster brake system its not worth the saftey risk to keep "originality".


Was Richard Clark able to test the Denso? I wanted to bring my extra pump to his event but I had to work.

 

[Beamer]

I have a question that will go a little off base here - please do not yell at me...

I just ran my car at Reynolds and it ran like crap. I had been battling a lean problem for a few weeks and thought my NB O2 sensor may have been causing it and replaced it with a Denso. I am dumping alcohol into my pipe to barely keep at 11.2. My car was breaking up on the upper end and losing power. I put a gauge in visable range during a run, and I had 58 lbs of fuel pressure and I should be at 24 lbs boost, but my boost gauge is fluttering like crazy.

I have a recently installed Greddy Spec II controller that worked solid a few weeks ago. Looking at my powerlogger run, my boost (from the MAP - correct?) was pretty solid across without fluctuations like what I saw on my manual gauge. Could the possibility of having to spray soo much alcohol to keep from being lean from a defective pump be my problem and cause a power loss? My duty cycle was like 90. I am going to post a help thread to inquire about this.

I was going to try replacing my fuel pump - but it is an unopened from FTS of these pumps and I dared not to.

Thanks in advance...

Mike