64. Fake! Fake! Fake!

Posted by Cam on

OK, so I’ve pretty much decided that my Bosch 044 pump is a counterfeit – a very good counterfeit.  I did a fairly thorough websearch trying to find out as much as I could about these counterfeit pumps but most photos/comparisons are a few years old.  I purchased this pump within the last year and I have to be honest, it’s a really good imposter!

Here are a few photos I pulled from the web:

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Counterfeit exterior body tends to be duller than the genuine article.  Note the pen mark at the staking location on the Bosch unit to the right – that’s normally an indication that some quality check was performed.  The rolled edge along the top of the pump bodies is also different – the counterfeit unit is pressed and has a sharper crease whereas the real unit appears to be rolled and is rounded.  Similarly, the staking feature on the very edge is sharp on the imposter and rounded on the real deal.  Last bit – the positive binding pin on the right pump is taller than the negative, not so on the knock-off (perspective makes this less obvious).
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The difference in binding post lengths is more obvious in this photo, genuine Bosch pump on the left, counterfeit on the right.
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Looking straight down the discharge, the machining work of the counterfeit piece is poor and there’s a larger gap between the center post and the 4 outer posts.  The real Bosch unit has a much more uniform gap and the center post is nearly flush with the bottom of the hole.  Note the center post appears to be nearly uniform in diameter.

And here are a few photos of my pump:

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My pump’s exterior has a dull sheen, not nearly as shiny as the legit unit above.
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A close-up showing the staking feature and rolled edge.  Both the rolled edge and staking point are sharply creased whereas on the genuine Bosch units they’re more round.
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Binding posts are the same length.
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Looking down at the discharge, the center post is not machined and is not uniform in diameter.  The 4 outer posts are non-uniform and the gap to the center post is excessively large.
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Here you can see machining chips from the threading and sinking operation.
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More bad machining.
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2 features that were a common theme in my searches was that the printing on the exterior is made via a dot matrix or vibro-peen type operation and the inlet side is missing a helicoil.  Here’s a close-up of my pump body – the printing has now been “upgraded” to a stamped feature like the genuine pumps and my unit also had a helicoil installed at the inlet.

So there you have it – I suspect the real reason my fuel system has been failing HP pumps is because I’ve been getting bad parts!  Makes me feel a little better about my initial design but at this point I’m committed to revamping the system entirely and eliminating the Bosch 044 from my setup.

More on that in a future post!

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