Fuel Pump – the Heart of Your Car Engine

The fuel pump is an essential part of the engine of a car. The vehicle needs energy source or fuel source to run. The fuel sources are electrical, liquid fuel and gas (like hydrogen) or any other. If the engine is based on a liquid fuel like gasoline (petrol) or diesel, it needs a way to get the fuel from fuel system to the carburetor. In most of the fuel delivery system, this method is fuel pump.

There are mainly three types of fuel pumps available at present. Two of them are used in automobiles, and the other one is not in use for automobiles. Each one has its own way of working qualities. Knowing about these will help to find the suitable one for your vehicle. In this article, we will discuss each briefly.

• Mechanical fuel pumps: Mechanical fuel pumps are used on carburetor based engines. A mechanical fuel pump's operation depends on the turning of a cam shaft. As a lever, it influences, pulling on diaphragm. And the diaphragm operates valves and lets the fuel to come out of the tank into the fuel distribution system. Because of this, mechanical operation, these pumps are called mechanical fuel pumps. These can operate only at 4-6 psi. These are low pressure pumps typically mounted on engine. The efficiency of fuel delivery system with mechanical fuel pumps slows down because it pumps the fuel into carburetor.

• Electric fuel pumps: Electric fuel pumps are used on the fuel injection system based engines. These can operate at 30-40 psi. There is no eccentric cam on a cam shaft in the electric fuel pumps to operate. These can produce higher pressure than the mechanical fuel pumps. Some fuel injection systems use two electric fuel pumps, one is mounted near or on the engine and another one is in the fuel tank.

Mechanical fuel pumps are slowly giving way to electric fuel pumps because of the latter's higher pressure pumping than mechanical pumps. Mechanical fuel pumps along with fuel injector help inject the fuel where it is needed. So, it becomes a more desirable alternative  to the mechanical fuel pump.

• Turbo fuel pumps: These are the third type of fuel pumps and are rarely used. This is because turbo fuel pumps are large in size, and are used for high volume type of engines. These are used in the jet and rocket engines. Researches has reduced the manufacturing costs of these engines but still these are large in size, and do not fit for the car.

So your car might possess either mechanical fuel pump or electrical fuel pump. You can know it finding it whether it has a carburetor or an injector.