1997 f250 fuel pump replacement... I have gotten several replies to other questions regarding this. I am replacing it on Friday and am wondering if there are any gaskets or anything in addition to the pump itself that has to be replaced. Also I understand lift the pump straight up or a rod can drop into the engine... What happens if this occurs?

 

The only "gaskets or seals" that you will need are the washers for the Banjo Bolt. Some pumps come with them, some do not. Bob at at Diesel o-rings has them, that's where I got mine. The only other thing you might need if you're planning to remove the steel fuel lines all together would be the compression sleeves for those where they go into the heads.

Here are links to the parts at Bob's site:
Banjo Bolt washers
Crush sleeves

As far as replacing the pump goes, the trick to doing it the safe way is to unbolt everything from the pump and then turn the engine over by hand (a big socket on the harmonic balancer and a breaker bar work well for this) until the fuel pump lifts up off the block. That means the cam lobe that runs the pump is at the top of its stroke and will keep the tappet from going into the motor if it should happen to fall out of the bottom of the pump. Most of them stay in the pump, but on the off chance that it may fall out, it's safest to have that cam lobe in the up position; otherwise you'll be kicking yourself while you're fishing for the tappet with a magnet.

Do yourself a favor and replace the fuel lines with some SAE30R9 fuel injection rated hose while you're at it. A foot of 3/8" and a foot of 5/16" will be more than enough (6" of each would probably do it.) Top it off with some "fuel injection" style hose clamps and you will have a nice leak free (well, unless your fuel bowl needs to be rebuilt, in which case Bob has o-rings for that too) fuel system.


Oh, and you'll need a 1 1/4" combination wrench to remove the banjo bolt from the back of the pump.

Good luck! It's really not a bad job when you know the tricks... which you do now!

 

You definitely don't want that to happen, it can go all the way to the oil pan.. Some have gotten lucky and been able to fish it out with a magnet cause it didn't drop far. I just replaced mine last weekend there is a good write up somewhere I can try to post later.. I turned the the engine over manually after poling the 2 bolts to get the cam to assist in pushing the tappet up, just be real easy when the o-ring passes through to not pull fast and go straight up with it. You will need to two banjo bolt washers for the back of the pump, not reccomened to re- use those riffraff diesel has them, also when I did my pump I put new rubber fuel lines in as well as you need to pull the fuel bowl anyways, riffraff also has those, might as well rebuild the fuel bowl to.. You can get everything you need for less then 30 bucks I think! Good luck!!

 

Yeah what Nate said.. Lol.. I'm to slow....

 

Fuel not pumping into fuel bowl that would be pump correct? I can't think of anything that would restrict fuel from getting to the pump...

 

also watch when you pull the pump up and make sure the tappet is not broke if it is use a magnet to get it out thats with the lobe up on the cam like nate said had a buddy try to put his in with that piece still in there and i had to help him fish it out not fun at all

 

When pulling the pump up avoid twisting side to side (just straight up), and that is a natural thing to try .. (wiggling back and forth) when pulling it up. That is what causes the rod to catch on side of the block and fall down. A little care in this area and you will be OK.

Turning the engine over works sometimes but often the seal is pretty good at pump body to engine block and the pump body won't raise. If that is the case jump up in there and wiggle the pump around a bit to break the seal (no gasket), just longevity over the years.