Fuel pump diversion

[duckdodgers]

Hi all,

Recently broke down. Engine just cut out and slowed to a halt. Spark present at plugs so thought fuel since they were bone dry and I had been turning it over quite a bit.

Haynes manual has a strange fault finding procedure which I followed checking the function of the relay. Conclusion was fuel pump shot, since only 1 ohm resistance across fuel pump terminals and should be 4 to 30 ohms.
Bought a Chinese fuel pump but it also reads 1 ohm across the terminals. 😯

Just checked voltage from fuel pump relay to pump whilst turning the engine on the starter. I probably should have done before buying said pump!!! Haynes didn't say to do that though.  Multimeter says around 9.5 volts. Battery reads just over 12. Is this ok? Wanted to ask before going any further especially since the connector on the spurious new pump is dissimilar to original and may have to do a bit of cutting and splicing of the two wires.

Many thanks
Sorry should say it's a 1999 Diversion XJ900

[m40man]

A good battery, fully charged, will typically show nearer to 13volts with the engine not running. So the battery is a tad low & would benefit from charging.

I know for a fact that a 900 has been ridden before with a failed fuel pump simply bypassed - gravity feed being enough for a "getting you home" scenario on a full-ish tank.

Dumb question time: Plenty of fuel in the tank? You haven't had the tank off recently? (Might have a kinked fuel line).

[duckdodgers]

Thanks for the reply.
Just double checked the battery and it reads 12.6v. Interesting about the gravity feed with the full compliment that is currently in the tank. Could be useful for fault finding, something I'm not very good at. Fuel lines not kinked. I was motoring along at 60 when the engine suddenly stopped running.

[m40man]

OK, well don't ignore an electrical fault - hot plugs would have evaporated any fuel. Did you check them soon after failure? If so, don't trust it.
If you checked them when cold, after turning over the engine on the starter quite a bit, then it's a more reliable test of fuel starvation.

I mention electrical because there are a number of plastic connectors under the seat & one on the LHS of the frame, under the tank. These are susceptible to corrosion & vibration can see them fail- especially the one under the tank on the 900. You think they are nice & tightly plugged together, & indeed they are, meanwhile the cables one side or the other have perished & the connection is actually lost.

[duckdodgers]

Yes checked the plugs some time after when cold. Although the wiring and connections look really good I will check them out. Have to go away for a few days now as some minor emergency has cropped up with a property my partner has.
Thanks again for your replies, I'll keep you posted when I get back.

[Greendivvy Beeb]

You could try disconnecting the fuel pipe from the pump to the carbs at the carb end and hot wire the pump and see if it pumps in to a bottle to eliminate the pump.

Just make sure you don't cause a spark near the fuel. May get a bit toasty