Basics of your vehicle’s fuel pump.
A fuel pump is an essential component in certain vehicles that requires fuel to be fed from the fuel tank which acts as the primary reservoir, to the engine. This is particularly important in non-gravity feed designs, as the name itself suggest that gravity is not used to propel fuel to the engine.
There are two types of fuel pumps, mechanical and electric. Mechanical fuel pumps are diaphragm pumps with a similar action to piston pumps. A check valve located both in its inlet and outlet ensures unidirectional flow of fuel. The flow of fuel is determined by the pressure gradient created by the mechanism. Since the pressure created by the mechanical fuel pumps is relatively limited, electrical fuel pumps soon conquered the market due to their promising efficacy packed with various the advantages over the mechanical type. Since the electrical fuel pumps are located in fuel tanks, there are many advantages. A higher pressure can be generated which ensures effective injection of fuel. Suction of air and leakages in connection lines can be detected easily and accurately minimizing damage to the engine and potential fatalities. Being placed inside the tank, the chance of creating fire is relatively low.
Fuel injection vehicles that are equipped with electronic control units have multiple mechanisms that ensure safety from engine leakage due to various causes. It is programmed to shut down the electronic fuel pump even when the engine is still running, which can never be achieved with mechanical fuel pumps. In the event of an accident your car will be free of fuel leakage even when its fuel line is damaged. This type of vehicle is usually geared with a switch that is usually located under the front passenger seat. This is called as the inertia switch, which gets tripped off in case of imminent rolling over of the vehicle. This prevents potential fire due to leakage of fuel from damaged lines.
In addition to the above mentioned safety measures the electric fuel pumps can be programmed to ensure safety from theft. In case that your car is stolen, there is a circuit which can be switched off so that injection of fuel from the fuel pump is automatically shut down. With no fuel for combustion, the car will cease to run, hence the motive of the theft will fail.
As you can see there are numerous advantages of having an electric fuel pump compared to most mechanical types. Make sure to consider these facts whenever you purchase a vehicle.
If you want to know more about fuel pump and fuel pumps, please visit http://www.carpartswarehouse.com/part/fuel-pump.html.
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