Have any of you run across this..... fuel tank wires

**seweber** · 10-31-2011, 03:07 AM

Went to replace my fuel pump this weekend and the wires in the tank had signs of meltdown, the gray wire to pump was melted and discolored at the pump and the harness trough the top of the tank, I went to the local junkyard (that had one 98 f-body out of all the cars) and its harness was burned similar.
Has any one run across this

**pajeff02** · 10-31-2011, 03:24 AM

How about some pics, please?

**Cutlass** · 10-31-2011, 06:19 PM

I've seen melted connectors at the top of the tank (on other cars). Its usually a shorted pump drawing too much current.

**seweber** · 11-01-2011, 02:19 AM

some pictures
replacing the pump but cant find the wire harness that passes into the tank(yellow)
10-31-2011 024.jpg 10-31-2011 016.jpg 10-31-2011 018.jpg 10-31-2011 021.jpg 10-31-2011 022.jpg

**Cutlass** · 11-02-2011, 06:32 PM

I think the yellow part and harness are both part of the tank sending unit and can't be bought separately.

**cammed goat** · 11-02-2011, 07:04 PM

Looks like the Mazda5s I used to do recall work on. Same thing. I would have to cut the burned harness and wiring off the vehicle's factory-installed wiring and solder a new harness with wiring onto where I cut the old wiring off. When you DO find the wiring, make sure you put some heat shrink tubing on the soldered areas and use dialectric grease at the harness.

**seweber** · 11-03-2011, 02:52 AM

I found two places that sell the harness separate of the sender after digging through the web for two days, not cheap around $50.00 but still cheaper than a sending unit and peace of mind that the wires won’t burn up and kill my new pump or worse.

**cammed goat** · 11-03-2011, 11:46 AM

Welp...all there's left to do, is get one and splice it on and get back to us.

**seweber** · 11-07-2011, 03:15 AM

I ordered a new harness from RACETRONIX, it fit perfectly, I soldered and heat shrunk all connection, electrical connection submerged in gas is scary as hell, even if you know it won’t conduct. I checked the voltage at the harness for a low voltage condition and megged out the circuit from the front to the back for any high resistance connection problems, found none. I wish I would have checked this before I took it apart, but I think (like Cutlass said) the failing fuel pump caused the wires to melt down. I’m going to check the fuse size and amp draw on that circuit to try to better protect the wires. Took the car around the block it definitely liked the gas. I have a fuel pressure gauge in the car and until the day the car wouldn’t start, I never saw a problem with fuel pressure. I think it was going bad for at least a few months though because it runs absolutely better now.

Thanks for all the help

**pajeff02** · 11-07-2011, 03:30 AM

Glad you got it all fixed. Upgrading to a Racetronix pump is on the winter mod list here. Like you, I run an aftermarket fuel pressure gauge to keep an eye on things, but the stock pump is going on 10 years old.