What a cluster fukk! Of course the Delphi holder assembly is made differently (the pump is smaller and the isolators are at an angle which is maybe better for noise) so only the Delphi pump fits into it and the Delphi pump, when ordered by itself, is to fit in the stock holder which is maybe why they put the Spectra pump in the box! So I don't how a person would get a replacement Delphi pump to fit in the Delphi holder, not that I would want another one, so yeah I withdraw my praise and replace it with criticism!

I had to reengineer the assembly to hold a Bosch pump i think they changed the design of the sender assembly and the newer pump style is not a drop in. What year is your car? Might be helpful to know for the next guy.

So the Pierburg pump is the smaller diameter (comes with adapter for the stock hanger) to fit the Delphi hanger BUT shorter so the hose wouldn't be quite long enough! So I installed the Pierburg pump in the original hanger with the included adapter, fixed up and reinstalled the original harness connector and installed that. Works well, nice and quiet, BUT doesn't hold pressure at all as if there is no check valve! I have a OE BMW pump and hanger in my cart and I think I might just pull the trigger on that and then keep the either keep the Pierburg as a spare or return that one too and maybe put a Bosch pump only into the original hanger, haven't made up my mind yet! Geeze!

So I picked up a used pump assembly from a wrecker and have that installed and working. I'm going to send the Pierburg pump back, but I'm wondering if it wasn't leaking from the internal hose. I was hoping that maybe not holding pressure would help with my slightly leaking injector/flooding after 2 or 3 days problem but it made no difference. The supplied clamp and line don't seem to work well together and looks almost like the line was distorted by the clamp to allow a bit of a leak. If I had more time and money I would probably eat the cost of the Pierburg (I had to pay 20 some dollars return shipping this time!) and take it apart to see if being so small it is maybe brushless ?? I now have a new BOSCH (TI) installed on the original hanger so that is what I'm going to use now (back to using the connector instead of direct wiring) with the used one as a spare.

sort out the differences in fuel pump replacements, please
 

80stech and andrewwynne: As I'm probably going to order a new aftermarket fuel pump for my '01 X5 pretty soon https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...inspected.html (after I further test mine outside the tank...if it's possible that the pump won't run if the fuel filter is completely clogged, then I have to investigate it); this thread has made it seem impossible to choose a pump, since I don't know if I'll have to adapt one brand of pump to fit into the holder or not, and it looks like nobody has a go-to pump they'd recommend. Plus, since mine is a 7/2001 build, has anyone ever changed out a pre-facelift pump?

Off-hand, I would've assumed that Hella and Pierburg would be OK for BMW's, and since I've been mainly a General Motors afficionado for 60 years, the AC Delco (and the modern Delphi brand) have positive connotations to me.

Whatever pump I order, I sure don't want to have to pull it out immediately due to some unforesaaen failure, nor do I want to have to re-engineer a pump to fit in my X (I've done WAY too much redneck engineering in my day...I want a plug & play solution the first time). Talk to me about this, please!

Don't test then pump outside the tank, can be dangerous! The pump will run with the filter completely plugged so that's not a problem. The Bosch pump is the one to get if you want to replace just the pump. If you want the whole unit it might be best to pay the price for the OE. Looks like no difference for facelift or not with the fuel pump??

In my thread, I said I was going to test the pump in a bucket, but that was before I read your comment here. The filter is who knows how old, but the fuel pressure regulator part is only about 3k miles old.

I can't find a Bosch pump for my '01 X5 online, and I've looked at FCP, ECS, and RockAuto.

Rock Auto and FCP both have the Bosch pump. I don't think there is a difference between facelift and not, FCP lists the same for both. If you want drop-in with least amount of chance for something to go wrong then go with the OE assembly.

is cheap not compatible with BMW?
 

I clicked on the greyed line "Fuel Pump and Housing Assembly" on RockAuto, which didn't show Bosch, nor did FCP when I searched for the same part. I don't want a pump insert, which doesn't address the rest of the assembly (my fuel gauge has been a bit wonky, twice, so I'm sure I need the sender part. I need a "one and done" complete assembly.

However, being on a low to no budget (why did I want a BMW, then? you might say), I'm shopping for a complete assembly for under $200 (it seems everything I buy, including my cellphones, now must conform to that figure, per my CFO). Looks like i may be getting a Hella, or at worst, a Uro unit.