I drove 55 miles and my truck died in mid traffic. giving it a few hours to cool down it turned on with some pretty extensive trying. I drove about 15 minutes away to park for it to not turn on. let it cool again for about a few hours and it turns back on with some extensive trying again, only for it to die again about 15 minutes down the road in traffic again. It never started again. We had it towed to a garage that diagnosed it as the fuel pump not being responsive, it was getting power but not working.

2 days later we just had it towed to my house. my father turns the key and it turns on !!

what is going on. do we still change the fuel pump? is it cuz it's over heating and doesn't work when it over heats? I've been told that I need to keep at least 1/3 a tank full of gas at all times to prevent this measure. Can anyone give me any advice or knowledge on this topic as to what to do?

thanks

 

Here's how to find out
1. turn key on - pump should run for 2 seconds. Listen near gas filler or at gas filler, cap off.

- runs. will it start? If so let truck run 5 minutes shut off and try again.
- doesnt run. See image attached. Check with ohmmeter as described. if about 10 ohms or less, switch meter to dc volts. turn on key, while checking for 12v. Will hear that relay next to pink circled test point click

If both those.. listen again at key on. pump doesnt run, it's bad and stuck.

Now this is important.. if you dont want this to happen again in a year or less, replace that pump with nothing but Delphi or AC Delco brand.. no matter what anyone at the auto parts store tells you.

And no.. the fuel pump has a 'cooling bucket'. Keeping tank over 1/3 may help some but most pumps fail at 130 k miles or before. That's why you MUST use those brands I mentioned. If not, then withing 25,000 miles, usually.

 

I wish we would have gotten this response sooner. My father has lack of patience. He dropped the tank and took out the old fuel pump already and we bought a new fuel pump, he's putting it in tomorrow. It's not ac delco or delphi though where we purchased the one (from o'reilly - is airtex brand with 1 year warranty) they do sell them.

This is the 4th pump in 14 months in this truck. The first one I had wouldn't instantly bring fuel to the engine so the dealer replaced it for that one to die a week later on me. The one we are currently replacing (not sure what brand any of them were/are), lasted 14 months. Only 91k miles on this truck, I've put 10k on it since purchasing.

We live in Hawaii now.. it's only been here a week so waiting for a part or the brand you specified wasn't convenient enough but I will remember this if it does happen again. I'm told this isn't uncommon for this build of truck?

 

It's unfortunate.. but the emperical evidence is overwhelming. I'm a big believer in free market but in many other businesses Wells-Airtex would be in a whopping class-action right now. They're covered with the 'one year warranty' because people just dont want to drop their tanks every year, so they just 'go away'.

Almost everything they make is crap in my opinion. Which goes way way back to Ford TFI ignition modules.
Make it worse, the OE pumps only have a lifetime of 100K, because of the system design.. no way around it, but a whole LOT of them do make it to 100k.

Too bad we never started a 'gee, you were right, dammit' thread on here.. it would be full of remorseful fuel pump buyers.
Check these out:
https://www.google.com/search?q=airt...lazerforum.com

https://www.google.com/search?q=airt...3As10forum.com

Yet you search other car forums and you dont find that so much.

Except, amazingly, on the Thunderbird forums.. {some of which is me, but others too}
https://www.google.com/search?q=airtex+site%3Atccoa.com

 

I appreciate your knowledge and it's being noted. I've forwarded this forum to my father since he's the mechanical genius in the family & also my mechanic. I have also read negative things on the AC Delco's though I've used there parts in this truck and have had no problems. I haven't read any negativity on the Delphi.

I want to show you what my father just removed while putting on the new wiring harness.. from the past mechanics aka the dealership mechanics from where I purchased it. Could this alone have killed the pump?