Except for fast priming I do not see the allure of having an Electric Fuel Pump (especially with the stock Alternator) on a 617.
Rebuilding the Fuel Supply/Lift Pump is cheap and easy and you know that the Pump is going to be adequate and reliable for the Job. And, your Lift Pump is most likely fixed for another 20 years.

On the newer Models the rebuilding the Lift Pump is slightly more complicated due to the Outlet Valve crimped in a fitting and the Kit cost more but it is still a reliable fix. But, the newer model Lift Pumps do not seem to have the longevity of the 617 types.

However, the Newer models have higher amp Alternators and there is no facility for priming the Fuel System. So on them an Electric Fuel Pump seems more useful and feasible.

I am still most interested in hearing from the Original Poster!

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

... my 6.2L uses the same filter as the 6.5 up to 93... and it's a filter similar to the stock 617 turbo filter, but not as good. the 93 and up to 97 used the flat panel, like FI said, and in 97, 98 went to the same round filter used in all the suburban/pickup trucks... Diesel and gasser... 8.1/5.7/6.5 the large round filter ... same filter.

yeesh. quibbling over statements. why?

depending on what years you are asking about, filters are different across a range of years.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

yeah, I hope he got on the road!

I totally agree, it makes the most sense to just fix the stock fuel delivery system, but its interesting to debate emergency options

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Well after my Volvo Diesel had sat more than a Year and I finally got the Fuel Injection Pump back on the Engine.

I ended up connecting and Electric Fuel Pump (one of the cheapie pulse ones) just to bring the Fuel up from the Tank to the Fuel Injection Pump.
There is no Hand Primer on the Volvo.

So I was glad to have the Electric Fuel Pump on hand or I would have had to do a lot of Engine Cranking.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Diesel 911

Thanks for the information. I know all about bleeding the air out of the system, and my engine has the newer style hand primer. I did not know the unit was a combination lift pump and primer, I thought it was just an oversized hand primer unit. Thanks again.

Glenn

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2012 Mercedes ML350 Bluetec 102K (hers)
2005 Corvette 55K (fun car)
2002 VW Jetta TDI 238K (mine)
1998 Volvo S70 T5 Turbo 211K (kids)
1994 Ford F150 4WD 246K (firewood hauler)
1983 Mercedes 300D 384K (diesel commuter)

Are you back on the road, and how did you fix it?

Very Interesting thread and now i'm thinking to do this to my OM606...

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1999 W210 E300 Turbodiesel

Bypasses the mechanical lift pump with an electric one voids the potential of running the engine without electricity.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

One of the threads commented on the pulsation of the cheapie Electric Fuel Supply/Lift Pump.
Speaking on In-line Fuel Injection Pumps
The Plungers in the Elements of the Fuel Injection Pump always have the same stroke. What Fuel inside of the Element that does not get Injected into the Engine gets expelled back out the Fuel Inlet/Feed Ports on the Element.

The expelling of the Fuel can be so violent that it can in some cases erode a holes through Fuel Injection Pump Housings that are Aluminum.
Some Fuel Injection Pumps with Aluminum Housings have Steel Plugs opposite the Feed Holes to slow down the erosion.

What the above has to do with Electric Fuel Pumps is that the Pulsation of the Electric Fuel Pump tiny compared to what is going on inside of the In-line Fuel Injection Pump Housing.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I almost forgot about this post!

To recap I ended up going to Pepboys and bought an electric fuel pump they had it in there parts catalog for my car.

It worked totally fine, when I returned home I ordered the parts to rebuild mechanical fuel pump. Which was a breeze, it had none of the crimped valves seen in other threads.

Just want to thank everyone on here for there sage advice on the thumbs up for going with the electric fuel pump.

The fuel system is back to stock now.

What happened was one of the valves was totally destroyed and was not holding pressure, anecdotally I was having signs of this problem before complete failure happened. But I was unable to diagnose it at the time. The symptom was a drop in RPM's at idle speed.

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'84 190D 2.2 OM601.911 144K

Is this in the 190D in your sig? Any idea on cause of the failure? Were you running alternative fuel? Assuming the lift pump design is similar to 617.9xx's lift pump (which are very robust), what caused its early failure at 144k?

My 83 300D turbo has 300K with the original lift pump (the last 60K on WVO) and it's still working fine per fuel pressure measurements. I even bought a rebuild kit for it if and when it fails but have no need to use it yet.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I have been wondering about the short life of the newer Fuel Supply Pumps also.
They have disc Valves that seat on part of the Valve itself instead of the hard Plastic Valves that seat on the main Housing of the Fuel Supply Pump.
Also becaue of the self bleeding set-up the Pump may be moving more Volume and it is always pumping.
It may just be a case of them simply not being as well made as the older Fuel Supply Pumps.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Tell us wich Pump it was? Someone else may need to know.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Yes its the one in my sig, same pump used on all the OM 60X motors AFAIK.

The new seals valve seals have the Blue rubber/plastic in them that all the new ULSD diesel seals have. IE: If you replace the fuel tank cap seal it should be blue.

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'84 190D 2.2 OM601.911 144K