TWO NEW Carter Mechanical Fuel Pump Failures. GRRR

Hey guys- so I'm at my wits end here and need your opinions. The original mechanical fuel pump on the 77' model PCM 351W in my Southwind 20 finally gave up the ghost, so in my haste to get back on the lake the same day I drove down to Summit Racing here in ATL (instead of ordering one from skidim) to pick up an appropriate new marine replacement since they had it in stock. It was a perfect fit, identical to the original pump. All was perfect and she ran like a champ for a week. Then BAM, the diaphragm failed with the classic fuel in the sight tube and she wouldn't idle. Assuming a defective new pump, I pulled it off and returned to Summit for a warranty return/swap. No problem there, got new pump #2 bolted on, and SAME freaking story. Ran perfect for a week and failed again in the same fashion. Factory Carter replacement pump, part # M60389 at Summit.

Is it possible that I've gotten 2 back to back factory defective pumps? Hard to believe since they weren't remans. I only run non-ethanol 90 octane gas from my local Lake Lanier marinas. I noticed on close inspection that a little fuel had permeated the outside edge of the diaphragm from the inside of the pump, so my first thought was "is the gas deteriorating the diaphragms like ethanol?" Hmm. The original 40 year old pump failed by allowing oil to be sucked up the sight tube instead of gas (the 2nd diaphragm).

Stumped, any ideas??? Is this common? I wonder if the Carter replacement from Skidim is a better quality pump? Thanks for any advice!   

Here are a few pictures. The first one is a new Carter pump, You can clearly see the pivot shaft and it's staked in place by a machine and crazy hard to get apart

In the second picture you see the old style, You can't see the shaft, it slides in from the side and by removing a small plug you can remove the shaft and get the diaphragm out and with a rebuild kit you can replace all the wear parts.It's pretty straightforward.

The third picture is an AC dual diaphragm on the left and the Carter on the right

Don't know what Skidim has for Carter pumps but that's how you can tell new from old and for some of us bad from good.

Why not rebuild the original that you took off??
Then and Now Automotive

The AC was original on my 1976 351 PCM engine The picture is a 76 pump that used to be dark PCM blue. They swapped to the Carter shortly after.

The view of the Carter pump on the Skidim website tells me it's the newer style because of subtle differences in the back of the flange area. I have no idea when that style replaced the older version.

There could be plenty of them out there with no diaphragm problems and maybe they had a bad batch of diaphragms recently.is my guess

I wouldn't call it an epidemic yet based on 2 peoples experiences, but I would say they're not built like they once were

Maybe it disappeared in the trash since the new one was working good and the last thing he expected was to have a new one crap out in a week

Just looked at mine and as Ken said nothing stamped just the # inked on the side. On the box on the bar code label it says made in Korea.

Well, I believe my Carter pump on my 302 may be bad, so I might be ordering a new one as well. I'll be keeping an eye on your updates.

KENO wrote: Hi Chau Pete or somebody will ask why you don't rebuild the one you have. Just tell him that you have the same shiny new M60389 that's the subject of this thread and they're next to impossible to get apart without destroying things and the original was long gone before you got the boat

Ken,
Keep in mind that Phillip hasn't mentioned how old his pump is yet. Maybe it's not one of the new versions? BTW, I'm sure you know there are some pumps out there that you need to drill the rivets out of the body for rebuilding but still doable!! .   

KENO wrote: Here's a picture from his previous thread Pete It's probably the newest thing on the boat along with the fuel line and hose clamps hooked to it And there's not a rivet to be found in it. If you read back and look at the old vs new pictures in this thread it's the pivot shaft for the cam arm that's staked in very well by a machine that's so tough to get out and then ya gotta get it back in and staked so it won't move.

Ken,
I'm referring to Phillip's pump and not Bens. The drilling of rivets was just a general comment on pumps that were riveted.

8122pbrainard wrote: Ken, Keep in mind that Phillip hasn't mentioned how old his pump is yet.

Turns out it's has already been a year and a half since I bought a new one from skidim. I will check when I see it but it will be a couple of weeks, I never bothered to look at it, and don't even know it it hasn't been superseded since. Might be best to call and ask Vince, I don't think their price is much different than Summit.

Gary S wrote: Turns out it's has already been a year and a half since I bought a new one from skidim. I will check when I see it but it will be a couple of weeks, I never bothered to look at it, and don't even know it it hasn't been superseded since. Might be best to call and ask Vince, I don't think their price is much different than Summit.

I really don't think that every new Carter pump is bad, but I think maybe they had a batch with bad diaphragms and the neoprene outer layer is not well bonded to the inner fabric material

Some people get a good one, some get a bad one

Ben

He's the original poster Pete, just to avoid confusion

If you're driving back to Summit for another pump, maybe you should ask for an Airtex 60389 mechanical fuel pump and compare it to the Carter M60389.

You'll probably be rubbing your eyes trying to tell what the difference is

One difference that jumps right out is the price, otherwise I'll bet they came from the same factory

airtex link

carter link

After 2 bad Carter pumps, I know which one I'd try

And I'd have an extra 26 bucks in my pocket

chau8238 wrote: I bought my Carter from Amazon and the airtex was actually a couple dollars more on there for some reason. The carter is $66 and the airtex is $70. But I plan to inspect it thoroughly if I do need to replace my pump. I should have it in the mail tomorrow.

I'm looking at replacing my fuel pump and would be very interested to hear thoughts on the Airtex compared to the Carter.