Fuel Pump Ballast getting extremely hot

[big66440]

My fuel pump ballast is getting extremely hot,would anyone have a clue why this is happening? would this cause my truck to stall randomly after a while of driving? it starts right back up, it just starting doing it out of the blue yesterday.

[cruiser54]

It might. Bypass it as a test.

[Eagle]

I've never checked the ballast resistor during or after operation, but it IS a resistor, and the nature of resistors is that they turn voltage into heat. Resistance generates heat, so what you're seeing may be perfectly normal.

[Geonovast]

Hook up an ohmmeter to it. I'm not sure what the reading is supposed to be, but I imagine it's not supposed to be very high. My XJ doesn't have one, so I can't provide you with a reference, but I'm sure someone on here can.

[HOrnbrod]

The resistance is right at 1.3 ohms. It is supposed to get hot, hot enough to burn you if you touch it. It's a wire-wound power resistor with a porcelain insulator to dissipate the heat. Clean the contacts well then check the resistance. They normally last forever if the contacts are kept shiny clean.

[mvusse]

Plus it is optional to make the fuel pump a little quieter. My 87 never had one. If it is bad, just bypass it.

[Exxon Valdez Jeep]

Mine was cracked in half and the truck would start and die, unless you held it at WOT, cuz I was told supposedly at WOT the pump bypasses that resistor. I replaced it with one off a cherokee and now its just noisy when I get low on gas.

[cruiser54]

In the name of science and mechanical research, I say we should all touch our ballast resistors after a half hour drive and report the findings back to this thread.