425 Fuel Pump Woes

[AGreenOne]

I had a shop repower my 425 several years ago with a Kit from the place in Indiana, I was less than impressed with the kit but thats another story. Shortly after the repower it started eating fuel pumps and I ended up finding a equivalent Artec E11000 at a fraction of the deere price and went through a couple more. I ended up getting a new fuel sending unit for a couple of hundred dollars which solved the problem for a couple of years. Now I am having an intermittent issue where the pump cuts out when using it, or just doesn't work when cold. If I wait a couple of hours or sometimes days it will work again. I always keep a half a tank of fuel in it, and there is no rhyme or reason as to how this plays out. Based on past history I would be inclined to buy a new sending unit but hate spending 280 dollars as the current one has less than 4 years and 100 hours on it. First sending unit lasted over 2000 hours. Wiring has been inspected and is good.

Does anyone have a part number for a non deere fuel pump?

Aside from a bad sender or pump what else may be causing this?

 

[zzvyb6]

This is an electric in-tank pump ? Why not install an in-line pump ? If they are burning out, you might have an over-voltage event going on. If they wear out, your fuel supplier might need to get you a different sulphur content. I see that the in-tank pumps are $30. In-line ones are a lot cheaper.

 

[AGreenOne]

This is an electric in-tank pump ? Why not install an in-line pump ? If they are burning out, you might have an over-voltage event going on. If they wear out, your fuel supplier might need to get you a different sulphur content. I see that the in-tank pumps are $30. In-line ones are a lot cheaper.

The first pump lasted almost 2000 hours in the tank, then I went through about 4 of them and several trips to the dealer before I spent 180 on a new sending unit. I have no reason to believe that switching to an inline pump would solve my issue. This is a gas engine.

 

[oldnslo]

Do you have a volt ohm meter? If yes with no power to fuel pump check resistance from power wire to ground. Possibly shake wires well doing this also. Curious if you have a partial short to ground causing high amp draw burning out the fuel pump prematurely.

Does the fuel gauge read correctly?

 

[Richard001]

The internet is littered with dead 425 fuel pumps. Take

zzvyb6 advice and get a in-line fuel pump. Your engine is carbureted. You need a pump that has an output pressure of 2 to 3 lbs. ​

Remove the in-tank pump, put a pickup tube down to almost to the bottom. Put the in-line pump in a convenient place, put a fuel filter between it and the tank. Use the same wires to power the in-line pump that formoraly powered the in-tank pump.

Richard

 

[AGreenOne]

Do you have a volt ohm meter? If yes with no power to fuel pump check resistance from power wire to ground. Possibly shake wires well doing this also. Curious if you have a partial short to ground causing high amp draw burning out the fuel pump prematurely.

Does the fuel gauge read correctly?

Fuel Gauge is reading correctly. I stopped going through fuel pumps for almost 4 years after replacing the fuel pickup assembly. When it was going through fuel pumps they always worked fine and then were dead.

The new issue is the fuel pump will quit when using it, or be fine when shut off and then will not work on restart. Then in either case an hour or a day later same fuel pump will work and run fine for a day or a week, I can't find any pattern.

To do any electrical troubleshooting its a 15 minute deal to remove the seat pan. When it won't run there is always a job to be done and I have to use a different machine. Seems like every time I have time to pull the seat pan and use a meter it then works.

 

[Robin Veerman]

Solution is in Richard’s post above….eazy peazy

 

[beenthere]

Puzzled that the cause of the fuel pumps going bad hasn't been found. Do you have the service tech manual for the 425?

Of several 425's I've owned, and the one I now have, not a problem with the fuel pump (knock on wood).

 

[AGreenOne]

Puzzled that the cause of the fuel pumps going bad hasn't been found. Do you have the service tech manual for the 425?

Of several 425's I've owned, and the one I now have, not a problem with the fuel pump (knock on wood).

The original pump went 2k hours. All the problems came after the repower from small engine warehouse. I had the conversion done at a very good dealer that was almost an hour away from the house. Within 20 hours of the repower it started eating pumps. 2 trips to the dealer and he was stumped. I suspected a wiring issue and ended up running 8 ga wire from the battery to the fuel pump and triggering it with the original harness through a relay. Not unlike using a Ford solenoid on GM stuff decades ago. That didn't help and as a last resort got the new pickup for 180 bucks. There is circuitry in the pickup and IIRC a resistor, not sure if that is part of fuel gauge or pump circuit.

New pickup worked fine for 4 years with the original wiring restored and now this intermittent issue. New pickup price has gone up 100 bucks in 4 years and I am not sure that would cure the issue.

 

[beenthere]

Think you have discovered the problem. Now good luck finding what is wrong with the repower conversion.