Carter 6 volt rotary fuel pump alert!

Posted by longjohn On 2018/6/17 11:00:19

I run Carter 6 volt rotary fuel pumps on both my Packards. They have never given me a problem, in fact one has been on my 1939 120 for over 20 years. Recently, I noticed that the pump on my 53 Cavalier seemed a little noisy. Fearing a bearing failure, I decided to do some preventative maintenance and replace the pump with a new one. The new pump looked like an exact match and it went in without problems.

On my first tour with the new pump, it failed after less than 25 miles. The Packard came home on a tow truck for the first time ever. Since my previous experience with Carter pumps had been good, I replaced the faulty pump with a new one. Two days later, I once again embarked on a tour. This time the pump failed after the first mile! I walked home, got my tools and replaced the new pump with the original noisy pump and everything is back to normal.

Has anyone else experienced a problem with these pumps?

I checked to see if there was some obstruction putting excess stress on the pumps. I run a filter before the pump and it was clean. I blew out the gas line and there was no blockage.

I took the faulty pump back and got another. This time I set up an experiment off the car and hooked up the pump so it would recirculate gas in a gas can. The pump ran for over an hour with no problems. I will keep this pump for a spare and I recommend that anyone who wants to use one of these pumps check it out in this manner before you install it on your car.