There are a variety of reasons for fuel pump damage, but the usual suspects include contamination (in other words not changing your fuel filter every 10–15K miles), overheating, and running the tank down below 1/4. Dirty, muddy or water laden fuel—known as contaminated fill-up—is even worse because it leads the internal components of your pump to become blocked for up to 30%. Around 15% of the fuel pump failures are suspected to be due to dirty contaminated gas (especially in those regions which have random quality fuels), as it has come across from reports particular to automotive industry. These contaminants wear on the inside of the pump over time, causing it to fail mechanically.
One of the essentials is that driving a vehicle with little fuel can be another reason for harming fuel pump. Fuel pumps use gasoline as a coolant and when the fuel tank is normally less than 1/4 full, your pump could overheat. New research shows that operating on an empty fuel tank can cut the average life of a pump by 20-30%, particularly in hot climate conditions. Pumps that overheat and fail prematurelyBurn rates increase the hotter a pump runs; consequently, vehicles accustomed to driving with less than 10 percent fuel in the gas tank experience significantly higher rates of heat-stressed pump failures.
Damaging can also occur by overloading the fuel pump. High outputs mean that faster-revving engines require higher fuel flow rates, more so at high RPMs. If the pump is not rated for what the engine calls, it will operate out-of-spec and you can prematurely wear-out your new gadget. This happened in 2018, with one of the most notable cases being a global automotive recall due to failings fuel pumps on several models that caused issues under high-load conditions which potentially impacted thousands across the world.
Its root is caused by wrong electrical connections or voltage ups and falls. Most fuel pumps need a steady ~12-14 volts to work right. Power surges or voltage drops can cause the motor in a fuel pump to overheat which eventually reduces its lifespan. Grounding issues (a process I hate to trouble shoot) accounts for 10% fuel pump failures across industry estimate.
How is fuel pump damage done? History is contaminated fuel, Low on fuel (fuel cools the pump) Overloading the Pump Electrical Issues All of these will decrease the efficiency and its life in a very large part. For additional information on fuel pumps and damage prevention, please visit Fuel Pump.