How High-Pressure Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) Fuel Pumps Work

High-pressure gasoline direct injection (GDI) fuel pumps are one of the best innovations in fuel pumps. High-pressure GDI fuel pumps provide the fuel pressure needed for a GDI engine to function correctly.

What Is GDI Engine Technology?

GDI fuel pumps

Gasoline direct injection engines are more “evolved” than regular engines. They’re designed to inject highly pressurized fuel directly into each cylinder’s combustion chamber. This brings several benefits:

  • Better emissions
  • Improved fuel economy
  • More power

GDI engine technology has been around since the 90s. Yet it’s only just starting to become popular. It’s because automakers see it as a good way to meet the increasingly strict emissions and fuel economy standards set by state governments.

GDI engines need more highly pressurized fuel. That’s where high-pressure GDI fuel pumps come in.

How Does A High-Pressure GDI Fuel Pump Work?

GDI pump

High-pressure GDI fuel pumps are advanced mechanical fuel pumps. A high-pressure GDI fuel pump is responsible for creating a high enough pressure so the fuel fully atomizes. The engine needs this to perform correctly. A GDI system has two fuel pumps:

  1. An in-tank pump that’s responsible for pumping enough fuel to the engine
  2. A high-pressure GDI fuel pump that’s responsible for creating enough pressure

High-pressure GDI fuel pumps require enough power that they need to be mechanically driven by the engine. A high-pressure GDI fuel pump is typically driven by the camshaft. The pump runs when the engine runs. This setup keeps the fuel pump closely aligned with the engine. This ensures that the engine always gets the kind of fuel pressure it needs to run well.

The design of a high-pressure GDI fuel pump resembles a mechanical fuel pump, but it’s more advanced. Its purpose is to pressurize the fuel that comes in from the fuel tank before sending it to the fuel rail.

There’s a fuel pressure sensor in the GDI system. The sensor helps the powertrain control module (PCM) change the volume of the fuel entering the pump inlet. Typically, a high-pressure GDI pump creates about 2,000 psi. The sensor and the PCM help regulate the pressure to keep the fuel pressure at an ideal level for the engine in real time.

When the in-tank pump sends fuel to the high-pressure GDI fuel pump, this is what happens:

  1. The low-pressure fuel enters through the top of the high-pressure GDI fuel pump.
  2. The armature rod (which connects to the control valve plate) pushes the fuel into the pumping chamber (within the pump).
  3. The camshaft pushes the plunger up into the pumping chamber. This constricts the space and forces the fuel out into the rail. This causes the fuel to “shoot out” of the pump.

The camshaft pushes the plunger up and down at a rapid pace. This process occurs repeatedly and consistently. With the help of the fuel pressure sensor, the PCM controls the amount of fuel that enters the high-pressure GDI fuel pump.

GMB GDI Fuel Pumps: The Best OE-Quality GDI Fuel Pumps On The Market

GDI fuel pump

We’re excited to announce that we’ve added 16 new high-pressure GDI fuel pumps to our line up of OE-quality fuel pumps! They’re compatible with over 17 million vehicles. Specifically, they are for late model:

  • Ford engines
  • GM engines
  • Hyundai engines
  • Volkswagen engines
  • Other engines

At GMB, we strictly benchmark all our GDI fuel pumps with their OEM counterparts. We do this to match the performance and durability of OEM fuel pumps. We ensure OEM quality in all our GDI fuel pumps by:

  • Performing high and low-temperature tests
  • Performing plunger and spring hardness tests
  • Putting the fuel pumps through endurance tests with up to 250 million cycles
  • Performing other tests

We hope to start offering our GDI fuel pumps for newer vehicles in the near future.

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