Are Carter lift pumps any good?

[mhixson]

I've had this Carter pump from Napa sitting around for a while now as a backup. Is this any good as a long term fuel pump?

 

[jrsavoie]

I've had this Carter pump from Napa sitting around for a while now as a backup. Is this any good as a long term fuel pump?

I've heard people say they got a little longevity out of them.

I never got any decent longevity out of anything but AC Declo or GM for a 1993

 

[mhixson]

I found this EP158 on Amazon for $70.

Amazon.com

Called my local Napa and they quoted me the same thing for $260 and it has to be shipped up from Oregon. Are Amazon and Napa talking about the same thing or could there be some confusion about the model number or something?

 

[Will L.]

If you have it- use it. But watch that pressure. LP making noise doesn’t equal working

$260 is ridiculous but there is a lot of cko parts coming in ac delco boxes and stickers. Same for other parts. Bosch glow plug is what ruined my piston in my optimizer. Bosch said because it came from rock auto at the time it was 50% chance it was fake. But they wouldn’t accept it to inspect if real or fake because rockauto was not an authorized dealer.

So imo- do research and know you are buying from an authorized dealer and for ac delco that means a brick and mortar store.
Lift pump won’t destroy an engine- just the ip. With the gauge on it you will see it as it happens and can stop in time.
I get saving money, I also get sometimes it’s a mistake.

 

[Big T]

If you have it- use it. But watch that pressure. LP making noise doesn’t equal working

$260 is ridiculous but there is a lot of cko parts coming in ac delco boxes and stickers. Same for other parts. Bosch glow plug is what ruined my piston in my optimizer. Bosch said because it came from rock auto at the time it was 50% chance it was fake. But they wouldn’t accept it to inspect if real or fake because rockauto was not an authorized dealer.

So imo- do research and know you are buying from an authorized dealer and for ac delco that means a brick and mortar store.
Lift pump won’t destroy an engine- just the ip. With the gauge on it you will see it as it happens and can stop in time.
I get saving money, I also get sometimes it’s a mistake.

Nope, called AC Delco and they are good on warranty from the Amazon AC Delco store. Call them if you don’t believe me. In fact, I called them about RA because of you.

 

[jrsavoie]

Nope, called AC Delco and they are good on warranty from the Amazon AC Delco store. Call them if you don’t believe me. In fact, I called them about RA because of you.

I was going to post similar.

When I called AC Delco, they said it depends on who the seller is.

As you stated, it's legit as long as it's from the AC Delco store.

 

[MrMarty51]

I've had this Carter pump from Napa sitting around for a while now as a backup. Is this any good as a long term fuel pump?

But the OP is not asking about AC/Delco.
He is asking about the Carter brand of plumps.
IIRC, the Leroy Diesel harness/relay/pump kit I ordered came with a Carter brand of pump.
It waas working great and on a pull, and loaded, was packing the lowest 9PSI.
I removed the mechanical gauge to avoid a disaster and have not yet got an electronical unit installed to monitor the lift pump pressure. When I do, going to, as someone in here, might be Will L suggests to run two sending units. One pre FFM and the other against the IP then the condition of the fuel filter can be monitored.

 

[Will L.]

Yeah, so long as you verify where you get it from is real, that’s what’s needed. It sounds familiar about the AC Delco store on amazon but iirc there was another store that was similar named and they were trying to shut it down a few years ago.
So that’s why I say verify. A four minute phone call is worth it to avoid the knock offs.
I remember back when I was chasing this years ago RA was not authorized dealer at the time for AC Delco, If they have become one since then, great. They weren’t for Bosch at the time either, which is why my destroyed piston didn’t get covered & Bosch wouldn’t even accept the glow plugs to examine if they were theirs or cko.

As to which LP- after watching people run them for years and having the pumps just never seem to fail, coupled with the best filtering system out there- thats why I say Fass. I’m sure there are others that will do fine cost less but maybe just not last as long. Which ever LP floats your boat is fine, just get the gauge so it is taking the reading at the ip inlet via all metal connection so no hose is after the tap is the big thing to do. 8-14psi range for the ds4. One of the guys on the hummer forum made his pump controlled via dial and could adjust his pressure by turning a knob, iirc he said 11psi seemed to be the sweet spot for power.
5psi for db2.
I don’t have a specific gauge to recommend. It becomes the same chase: cheap ones fail early and the really good ones cost a bazillion dollars. That why Inused to do something I don’t recommend anyone doing- I ran a fuel line into my cab and had a mechanical gauge. Pretty dumb looking back on it.

Yes that is me talking about reading pressure pre filter and at ip. When the pre filter pressure is still good and ip pressure drops down that will be from restriction of fuel from plugging filter and time to replace them.

GM made a couple different types of fuel filters for 6.2/6.5 over the years and just picked a “safe” mileage interval for changing them. The problem is you never know if you are getting more or less contamination from your fuel supplier.
The water seperation of it only withstands about a table spoon of water. When we had real diesel fuel, and you got a bunch of water in it, it completely separated. Now with corn juice it mixes in. The water separation the factory ffm can handle is inadequate for this fuel we have now. Thats why dmax injectors get destroyed so easily. Running a diesel now days without an excellent water separator is playing the lottery in reverse. Many people, many years and no problem but if your number gets drawn and you get the water bath, guess who gets to replace an ip and injectors. And like the lottery, I tend to hear of a “winner” about once a year.

So it becomes a decision on the gamble of spend the money to ensure no problems vs save the money and hope. The whole 6.5 game is about do I just replace the oil cooler hoses or risk it. Do I replace the balancer and pulley ormrisk it. Do I add the fuel lube or risk it. These engines have a horrible reputation for a reason, I have learned to swing the odds in my favor. And even doing that look what happened to my optimizer- got a bum glow plug and destroyed a piston.
Thats when I learned the hard way about rock auto and bosch.

 

[Will L.]

That carter pump normally lasts half as long as the ep158. Normally puts out 8 psi for about 100 hours then falls quickly to 5psi. Maintains that for a couple hundred hours then bypasses.
If you already own it- run it because the money is spent. But get the gauge on their. Hopefully you beat the odds and it maintains a long time.