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I was getting ready to leave this evening for the COPA convention in CYLW via CYBW. A beautiful high pressure ridge is forming over the Cdn Rocks. Was gonna be great when the fuel pump breaker popped. No pump.

I have searched this forum back 5 years and can't find anything, although I seem to recall it is a pretty common 400-500hr problem. My plane is 381 TT. Can anyone share some insight? So disappointing - Are the newer pumps lasting longer? I hope so.

Could this be it?

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Popping a breaker is a new failure mode, I believe. I can't recall anyone posting about this. If it's the pump it would likely be a short in the motor or a lockup/binding of the rotor.

I've had two failures: The first was simply producing so much electrical noise the comms were almost unusable when it was running, so I replaced it. The second was a simple failure to run. The one I have in there now has been fine for years. Maybe because I do have a spare. These are all Dukes pumps.

Whatever you do....do NOT use Aeromotors to rebuild your Dukes pump if that is what's needed (was recommended in previous thread)

Use the shop that Diamond sends theirs to which is Quality Aero www.qaa.com

I will make a followup post to my DA20 dukes fuel pump and Aeromotors saga soon.

In response to your problem.... is fuel dripping from the belly drain pipe?

I had to do this once with a failed pump way back in 2008. If I recall Dukes (the OEM) did the rebuild and told me they had better components that should last longer. That was about 400 hrs and now at 2000 hrs with no issues.

Our fuel pump breaker popped a couple of times just yesterday. A&P is checking it out today. I'll report back on the verdict, but he is saying most likely the pump is bad.

I ordered a new Weldon pump - there was a recertified one Aircraft Spruce Canada for a slight discount. Does it make sense to rebuild the old one to use as a spare?

My Dukes fuel pump problem was a drip - but this post has info on the company that I used to fix - for much less $$ than the official answer. It has been running fine since.

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RMarkSampson wrote:My Dukes fuel pump problem was a drip - but this post has info on the company that I used to fix - for much less $$ than the official answer. It has been running fine since.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5130

I used this exact advice using Aeromotors to and have had a terrible experience with their rebuild of my Dukes pump. Fuel was just barely dripping out the injection tubes with prime pump on with the newly rebuilt pump. After weeks of chexking everything else including mags, shower of sparks, etc. we finally contacted Aeromotors and they said to just take the Do Not Adjust sticker off and crank the pressure adjusting screw in...WHAT??? I thought this would have been set accurately from them so we should not tamper. In the end, we cranked that pressure adjustment screw all the way in and it got better but barely. Could get aircraft started only after priming for about 60 seconds..unbelievable.

In the end, we have sent another pump to QAA for $1195 (Diamond recommended pump rebuild shop) and I should get it back in a few days and will report back.

My experience with Aeromotors was extremely frustrating.. how could a newly rebuilt fuel pump not work?!!! It was showing proper pressures... but just didn't seem to have the proper amount of flow. (And sounded extremely feeble compared to Dukes)

My recommendation based on my experience with Aeromotors, is that there is a reason they are cheap.

If you want to roll the dice and take a chance on cheap, use Aeromotors. But I would avoid at all costs.

You must have had better luck and me, RMarkSampson or I just had bad luck!!

Well, the delivery date for the recertified Weldon pump from Aircraft Spruce I ordered 10 days ago got pushed out to the end of next week, and the same delivery date applied to the regular stock pumps. So I bit the bullet. Diamond Canada (via Aviation Unlimited) shipped me one today direct UPS. Should be here tomorrow for installation Thursday. Good service, if a little pricier.