Fuel pump points and real mileage failure rate?

[Bonnie and Clyde]

Is the fuel pump (really the points) a weak point on this bike? I just pulled my fuel pump to get to the fuel filter for maintenance and I took a look at my points in the pump. The points looked pretty good for 44k miles.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM ... authuser=0


My KTM 950 has a Mitsubishi points pump that only uses 2 wires. There is a circuit board kit that replaces the points for that bike. I replaced the points on that pump at 22k miles and those points were very bad. That pump has now done another 35k trouble free miles with no points.

I am surprised how complicated this voyager pump wiring is. 4 wires in and out of the pump with a circuit board and multiple relays. Is this pump a [highlight=]COMMON[/highlight] point of failure that could leave me stranded or at least having to pull it off and clean the points on a trip?

I was thinking about just taking the pump down to 2 wires and eliminating the points with the above mentioned kit. Any experience with a 2 wire pump system?

[Dan66]

Why worry about something that isn’t a problem.
If it ain’t broke..... why fix it ?
Tampering will surely cause issues.

[cushman eagle]

As a prevention,I replaced my original gas pump at about 85,000 miles
I never had any trouble with the original

[VoyKimmer]

The only thing that goes wrong with these pumps are the points pitting. I clean mine with a nail file every 45,000 miles with original pumps. Never a problem on or off the road.

[Bonnie and Clyde]

Thanks for the response. The points do and will fail and at the very least cause issue and need fixing or replacing. The fuel pump is hard to get to so I don't want to fool with fixing it on the side of the road on a trip and loose valuable time.

[SgtSlag]

Ours went out, on the road, in Arkansas, on a trip. We rode in a tow truck for 70 miles to get back to our hotel and truck (trailor'ed the bike down, and mighty glad we did!). We had the pump replaced, never looked at it myself. This was on our '93, at 7X,000 miles, and around four years ago. Nice to know about the points. Would not mind converting it to a 2-wire system... Cheers!

[Bonnie and Clyde]

Ours went out, on the road, in Arkansas, on a trip. We rode in a tow truck for 70 miles to get back to our hotel and truck (trailor'ed the bike down, and mighty glad we did!). We had the pump replaced, never looked at it myself. This was on our '93, at 7X,000 miles, and around four years ago. Nice to know about the points. Would not mind converting it to a 2-wire system... Cheers!

Exactly the scenario I'm hoping to avoid! Thanks for posting that

[Nails]

The points do and will fail

Anything will, eventually. This hasn't bubbled up to a must-do preventative maintenance item for me -- maybe I just cursed myself. My bike is still well shy of Kim's 45K interval; and I have a lot of other pressing maintenance before I'd want to mess with the fuel pump. Maybe next time I replace the fuel filter -- which might be a while.

The upgrade you describe sounds like a swell alternative. Please take photos and otherwise tell us how it goes. Upgrades are good.

And yes, this bike has lots of egregious electrical weirdness.

[GrandpaDenny]

Hmm. 82,500 miles on Gertrude, 28,500 in two years (dang I'm riding a lot lately, without going on any long trips). Guess it might be a good idea to take a look at the fuel pump in the not-too-distant future.