Abstract

A fuel pump module constructed to be disposed in a vehicle fuel tank has a primary fuel pump with a fuel inlet disposed adjacent the bottom of the module and a fuel outlet which delivers pressurized fuel to an engine and also a jet pump disposed in a recess of the module and closely adjacent the bottom of the fuel tank to draw fuel into the module from the fuel tank in response to fuel flow through the jet pump. Disposing the jet pump in the recess of the module and closely adjacent to the bottom of the fuel tank enables the jet pump to draw substantially all of the fuel from the fuel tank into the module to ensure that the primary fuel pump can deliver an adequate supply of fuel to the engine even during extremely low fuel level conditions in the fuel tank. Disposing the inlet of the primary fuel pump closely adjacent to the bottom of the module and also the bottom of the fuel tank facilitates initial priming of the primary fuel pump after the fuel tank and module become empty and fuel is subsequently added to the fuel tank. Thus, after a vehicle has run out of gas, and the operator pours a small amount of gas into the gas tank, the primary fuel pump is able to prime, operate the jet pump to draw some of the added fuel into the module and deliver added fuel to the engine so that the engine may be started and the vehicle driven to a gas station.