Questions and Answers

How The Fuel Pump Works Q. My name is Jeremy and I am currently in a class called science and tech for college. For this class I have to write a paper on how the fuel pump works and was wondering if you had any information or web sites that would be helpful to my research. Thanks for you time. Sincerely, Jeremy

A. I'm assuming you mean an electric fuel pump. I can give you some basic information here. If you want more detail, go to How Stuff Works and there is a lot more information on how fuel pumps work there.

The fuel pump is a submersible pump with a permanent magnet electric motor. Fuel enters the pump inlet tube after passing through a sock style filter and is pushed through the pump by the motor to the outlet. It consists of a motor, a vane roller pump, a fuel damper, and a relief valve to prevent system damage from over pressure. The fuel pump shares its mounting cage with the fuel gauge sending unit. The pump contains a single check valve on the output side which restricts fuel movement in either direction, maintaining fuel system pressure, typically, at 40 to 45 psi when the pump is not operating, therefore fuel pressure must be released prior to servicing the fuel system.