Sounds like fuel pump, happened in my M5 not too long ago. I personally would've went OEM pump because it lasted you this long but to each their own.

Agreed with everyone... sounds like intermittent fuel pump. When they die they are known to run intermittently.

How many miles are on your X. BMW pumps typically last 100,000 to 150,000 miles. Supposedly closer to 100,000 miles if you run your tank down a lot (I do it every tank, with every car I own) but I've only ever had one fuel pump failure over 15 BMW's so I'm not sure how much credence to give that. The fuel is used to aid in cooling the pump as Upallnight said, but I've seen just that one failure running from full to empty with every tank. I have NEVER let a pump run dry though (run out of fuel).

If I new I was going to keep it, say, another 4-5 years, then I probably would have gone OEM, but since its 10+ years old, and I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to keep it, I went aftermarket. I just hope that is the issue and it resolves it..


183,000 and change, pump is original..

Never owned a Land Rover Defender, but it's a British car, like my Lotus, Triumph, Jensen Healey, and they all suffer the same fate for that period, electrical system by Lucas, aka Prince of Darkness. LOL

Yes, British cars definitely have their own 'character'. The Defender has few equals when the pavement ends though..

Yep sounds like your pump then. As long as you have +12v at the pump you should always here a constant "whirring" sound from under the seat while running. And it initializes after you hit key position 2 for a few seconds. When you are having trouble getting it started, I bet if you tap it with a screwdriver or something it will fire to life. That's usually the case... the pump gets sticky.

At any rate I think your chosen course of action is proper. :thumbup:

Well, Looks like we are back in business. Found a load of metal shavings in the bottom 'well' of the tank though. Pickup screen on the original pump looked free of any debris though.

It was kind of a pain draining down the fuel pump's well and getting the shavings cleaned out, and the flange on the Delphi pump is just a tiny bit thicker than the OEM pump, so it needed some additional 'persuasion' to seat deep enough for the locking ring to be able engage, but otherwise went pretty smoothly..

I had just put 5 gallons in and it hadn't run since. So I was surprised to find only maybe a Gallon or so in the pump well. Does the fuel fill line fill the Driver's side of the tank then spill over to the Passenger side? Given that the fuel fill is on the passenger side, I would have thought it would do the opposite?

After buttoning everything up, I put another 5 gallons of fresh gas in from a can. Fuel gauge was reading just below half a tank, which is about right for ten gallons of fuel, so I'm hoping/assuming that all is well..

Anyway, a big thank you to all that responded...

P.S. - Man alot of 'crap' accumulates below the back seat..

The fuel tank is separated into two parts, a large capacity on the driver side ((LHD) a smaller capacity on the passenger side. Fuel is transfer from the driver side to the passenger via a siphon pump. Siphon pump only works when the fuel pump is working. All that crud in the sump are pieces from your old fuel pump. Most people that change the pump fail to remove the crud at the bottom of the sump. To extend the life of a fuel pump don't run the tank below a 1/4 of a tank.

Find any M&M's? That seems to be the kid food of choice for parents who own these things.....
:rofl: