1984 Ford Thunderbird – Fuel Pump Issue – Airtex

I had a problem with the in-tank fuel pump on my 1984 Ford Thunderbird LX with a 5.0 EFI engine. I found out the pump was still working, but the small rubber hose on the pump/sending unit was deteriorated and broken. I took the gas tank out of the car to access the pump/sending unit, which is a pain to do for any home mechanic, and confirmed it was a broken hose.

Instead of just replacing the small rubber hose on the sending unit, I decided it would be “smart” to replace the complete fuel pump assembly since the car had 110K miles and it was the original fuel pump. I didn’t want to go through the ordeal again of removing the gas tank.

I checked Autozone and they had a complete fuel pump assembly for under $100, which was made by Airtex. I installed the new Airtex fuel pump assembly and reinstalled the gas tank. Filled it up with five gallons of gas and tried to start it up. Cranked the car about 10 times and the engine fired up. Success! The fuel pump problem was solved.

At that time, the car was not driven, but I planned to put it back on the road in a year or so. Because of the this, I would still start the car once a month. Maybe six months after I installed the new fuel pump assembly, the car would not start. I discovered that the in-tank fuel pump was not priming when the ignition was on “run.” Complete silence from the fuel tank during an attempted start up.

So, it seems like the fuel pump in the tank is dead. The replacement fuel pump maybe has a total of two hours on it. With the way the fuel pump is wired electrically (there is a second external fuel pump on this car, which is working), it seems like there is a problem with this replacement in-tank fuel pump. Still not ruling out an electrical problem.

Does anyone known if there was an issue with Airtex replacement fuel pumps? What would make a new fuel pump fail so quickly? Anyway to research the problem without having to remove the gas tank once again? Thanks!