As promised, here are some pictures of a failed OEM 3W fuel pump that I dismantled.

here is the assembly, not many parts. there were no numbers nor manufacturer marks anywhere. the pump is clearly based on the old Walbro pump patents.
https://www.tm-img.com/images/2019/02/27/assembly.jpg

With the exception of one brush failing, all else was clean and in good condition. The damaged brush did not move freely in its' socket, I suspect that full contact with the commutator became less and less and arcing started to take the brush apart.
[img:left]https://www.tm-img.com/image/YPo6O[/img]

In this view, you can see the brush on the right was making normal and full contact. The yellow circle shows the tiny area where the damaged brush was making contact.
[img:left]https://www.tm-img.com/image/YPiEH[/img]

At this point, there is no way to know if this is the common failure mode. I will need to dismantle more failed pumps to see.
Next, I will put a thermocouple in the fuel return basket to see how hot the fuel actually gets. Walbro pumps are advertised to work in the temp. range of -40 to 155 degrees F.