Naturally, an electric fuel pump can fail suddenly (for a number of reasons), so this type of failure is just par for the course. The most likely cause of this problem is from wiring looses. According to the folks at Edmunds, around 15% of fuel pump failures are due to wiring or relay--problems that tend result in a sudden halt of channeled gasoline. If the wiring shorts out or the relay fails, sometimes suddenly and without any warning at all upon turning they key to start your car you find that it will not start while others come back to their parked cars only to find that they will no longer run because on turns of failure this results in slow crank-or-no-crank conditions.
Overheating is also among the common reasons of fuel pumps stoppage. If that pump gets driven too long without enough fuel to act as a primary coolant, it might fail. The report also cited research from the U.S. department of energy predicting that driving a car with low fuel levels for long periods could increase the chances of pump failure by as much as 30%. The pump also gets hot because there is no more fuel cooling it and the plastic impeller of RX pumps fail quite quickly. That in turn can cause the pump to seize and fail suddenly without any prior warning signs.
Polluted fuel: This is another factor which has an influence towards forceful malfunction of a Fuel Pump. Impurities in the fuel such as dirt, debris or even water can create a blockage inside of the pump causing it to run harder than normal which can eventually cause the pump fail at any time. Consumer Reports notes that fuel contamination was a problem in as many as 10% of the vehicles it studied for its self-testing analysis on models with this widespread failure issue. As much as a small drop of water in the fuel will encourage corrosion within the pump, likewise resulting into extremely shortened life-span. In these cases, the pump might work one minute and be dead after due to rapidly wearing internal components.
Another reason can be wear and tear. Easily, electric fuel pumps will run between 100-150k miles on average. But, top-tier systems degrade more gracefully than older pumps that just decide the rule of law no longer applies to them one day. According to Forbes, by the time an electric fuel pump has reached 100k miles in its life about one in five are going to experience some sort of fault, with a number of those being fail-to-function malfunctions. The risk of this type failure is greater in vehicles with high mileage or where routine maintenance has been skipped.
An often overlooked cause of sudden pump failure is the installation of cheap, low-quality aftermarket components. According to TechAuto, close to 10% of fuel pump failures take place just after a low-cost replacement was installed. There pumps are also typically not as robustly built compared to OEM and usually fails when worked hard at high speed or under heavy loads.
Regular maintenance, such as new fuel filters and good quality gas can prevent a sudden break down According to Car and Driver, letting the tank fall that low can increase your risk of overheating by up to 20 percent so keep it above a quarter!
These easy-replacement-parts like the Electric Fuel Pump, addressing pump problems with sturdy build and exceptional performance capabilities might be able to save you from some unexpected road-side issues.