Bosch Risk Management

On August 9th, Bosch realized a failure of their fuel pump/filter unit for a new model fuel tank. In the past they used a ½” gasket on the old fuel tank, when GM changed the design, this became a problem. There was no longer a ½” gasket, thus causing problems for the pump to retract all the way to the top flange of the pump unit. The top flange has a rough grove on top where the fuel tube comes in contact. I was asked by Bosch to investigate a more durable abrasive sleeve then the one they currently using.

Bosch uses a GPT-483 3/8” (131,843 cycles to failure) sleeve for their current application. By the use of SAE ARP 1536 test method, I was able to make a few recommendations on Sofanou sleeving products. The product line that I recommended is; Nu-Guard NTW-WR ½” (1,163,483 cycles to failure), Nu-Guard DPT 3/8” nylon 6, 6 (new to Sofanou product line) (356,425 cycles to failure), and Nu-Guard N 3/8” (295,198 cycles to failure).

On August 20th I met and brain-stormed with Bosch Engineers; Martin Kling (Engineering Manager), John Lennen (Engineering Unit Manager), Ralph Gordinier (Sr. Program Lead Engineer), Ted Perniciaro (Senior Engineer), Mike Zick (Engineer), Dave Toutant (Component Specialist), Dave Brown (Senior Test Engineer) and Rich Minix (Lead Technician) on developing a test that would reflect the current process problem.

Similar to the ARP 1536 test method, we decided to use an aggressive saw blade for a tear test for the three different products. Entela Testing was in charge of this test project. On August 23rd, Andrew Gleason (Engineering 1) from Entela coordinated the testing and reported: Nu-Guard NTW-WR ½” @ 2,200 cycles to fail, Nu-Guard DPT 3/8” nylon 6, 6 @ 750 cycles to fail, Nu-Guard and Nu-Guard N 3/8” @ 410 cycles to fail.

Currently, Bosch has all information on the test results and photos of the test procedure. Ralph Gordinier has asked the purchasing dept. to quote the three different Sofanou