This is kind of long, I apologize in advance but I figured I'd share about how the quality of a "professional repair facility" has fallen greatly.
My brother picked up an '88 Mark VII a few months ago, he loves it but it has/had some problems. Most of them have been fixed with various parts since buying it. The fuel pump was nearly dead when he got it though, the car would barely run. He took it to a local shop here in town on our parents recommendations and I got the "I didn't ask you because you're always busy". He dropped it off, picked it up and the car ran. End result, $200 for a fuel pump assembly and another $280 to install it. All was good until two weeks later when it died again. He took it back and they told him the ground for his amp was making the inertia switch pop and charged him $80 for the convenience. When it died a third time, it ended up in my shop. I pushed the reset on the inertia switch and it started up. Fast forward 3 weeks and it dies pulling into his driveway, no fuel pressure. After trying the inertia switch and nothing, some voltmeter testing found that power was coming out of the relay but no pump whine. The guys over on the lincoln forum pointed out it's easier to cut a hole in the trunk than to drop the tank so I went that route.
Came across a few issues. Check out the $200 brand new pump assembly.
#1. The power is coming out of the tan wire (which matches the power wire to the fuel pump) at the relay but there is no power at the pump. The wire is probably cut or shorting out somewhere from when they reinstalled the tank and pinched the wire somewhere and it rubbed through.
#2. The pump itself, when jumped, runs.
#3. With the pump running, a pinhole from rust in the out line sprays gas all over the top of the tank, this probably accounts for the crappy gas mileage he's been getting.
And now for a little ranting. The "professional repair shop" that replaced the pump didn't notice that half the tank is covered in gas?! They didn't even try to patch it and it was spraying gas all over the electrical connector! What a joke. The "connector" consisted of the two wires wrapped around the posts on the assembly and then rtv was goobered all over it to keep them from pulling out. The assembly costs 150 off rockauto so not only did they screw him over by charging for an assembly and just doing the pump, they inflated the cost of the assembly they never used! The fire hazard issue is huge with the gas spraying all over the tank and connector and they had to of seen that. The other thing I didn't take a picture of was that inside the cover where the wire comes through, the positive wire tab was cracked apart exposing wire AND it was bent over and nearly touching the ground wire, one power surge and it would have sparked right across, exactly what you want in a tank full of gas and fumes.
End result is that we ordered an entire new assembly and it should be here soon. Once that's in, I'll run a new wire off the relay and slap a patch cover over the hole in the trunk and he should be back up and running.
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