Hello Blazer fans. I've been searching and reading the forum threads and from what I'm seeing, it looks like I have run into the most common problem with these S-10 Blazers.... the fuel pump. In fact I'm trying to get two of them back on the road right now, and both of them are having fuel pump problems.
One of them (the '94) I think the pump is fine, but I can't get it to come on when the key switch is turned. I found a very helpful piece of advice somewhere on here about running 12 volts to the green wire with the open plug in the harness, left of center on the firewall. I did this and the pump did come on when jumped manually. I'm really hoping it will be something simple like replacing the relay. I tried bleeding off the pressure but that didn't help.

On the other blazer it's much more serious. This one (a '93) spent most of it's life up north in MD. It looks it too....lol. LOTS of rust.... Well on this one I couldn't jump start the pump, and the engine runs great for as long as it takes to burn up whatever fuel I can dump in the front of the intake. Tried this for awhile but couldn't get it to pull any fuel from the tank. Decided it has to be the pump so today I took it out. Boy was that an adventure....the bolts and everything are so rusty I had to just pull the carpet back and cut an access hole through the floor to get to it. Laid some wet carpet over the tank first to try and protect it from sparks from the angle grinder and cutting disc. Wasn't too hard to work some squares of rubber backed office carpet in between the floor and tank.

Here are some pics of it for documenting this whole mess. Cutting out the floor turned out to be just the beginning. Getting those rusted connectors loose and not damaging the parts I needed to save...now that was fun. Of course the pipes coming off the pump crushed and snapped right off. I figured I would need to replace the whole sender and everything anyway so I only tried to save the female ends. I'll replace the rubber hose too because it's in pretty bad shape.
Next after replacing all this I'll need to put a fuel filter back in there where some fool cut it out and bypassed it with a piece of tubing.
Now for my question for y'all who know about these things... Is there a better fuel pump brand that you can recommend for me? I saw a video of a guy replacing his three times that bought an "Airtex?" He and someone else said that particular brand sucks....and not in a good way...lol.

I called every auto parts store in the area today, and got the lowest price quote on a Canadian pump made by SPI. That was $132 for the entire assy....with strainer, pump, lock ring, and the whole hanger, sender...all that.
The guy in the youtube vid was using a Delphi from Oreilly's.

Any recommendations from those in the know? They are both 4x4 S-10 Blazers with 4.3L Vortec and Fuel Injection. "W" on the Vin #'s

Thank you in advance. This is a great forum.

Aww man, I'm sorry about the huge image sizes Mods. I don't know how that happened. I thought I uploaded them at 640 x 480....

 

Best - AC/Delco or Delphi

Worst - Airtex and who knows what else.

I'll resize your pics.

 

Thank you sir. I'll pick up the Delphi then. Oreilly's agreed to price match with Pep Boys and sell me the Delphi for the same price. Sounds good to me. Now I just hope things get smoother from here out. I'm sure I'll have some questions before it's over.

 

When I replaced my fuel pump the plan was to cut and access somewhat like what you have done. After looking at the body pan and the support above the pump assembly I decided to not weaken the pan by cutting into it. I am wondering can you noticed any difference in the body pan, flexing, now that it has been cut?

Oh yeah I went with an ACdelco pump.

 

That is a valid concern Cidium. At first when I looked at the support member running right across the top of the fuel pump, and realized there was no possible way to take it out the top like that without cutting through the support, I had second thoughts. Then I decided there was really just no other good way to do it on this particular Blazer. It's just that rusty. I don't want to restore it, I just want to get it going down the road again for right now. I would have preferred to cut the floor pan and the support member in different spots, and then put them back in separately, but that's no possible either because it's spot welded to it all the way across (I'm guessing). What I plan to do is, after making sure the pump works and all is good, I'm going to add some steel or heavy gauge aluminum pieces around the outside edges, and in the corners, to fully support the cutout piece when it's laid back in there, and attach it all with heavy duty pop rivets. I'll use steel backups where the support member is on both sides. Then later, once it's back on the road and can be taken by my buddy's welding shop, I'll get it tacked in several spots along all four sides and the corners. I believe that will be more than sufficient for the use this Blazer will see.

 

Delphi is the supplier to GM for these pumps so if you get an AC/Delco you're already buying a Delphi. I would reinforce the pan.

 

I wouldn't worry about it not being strong enough. I cut a hole in my floor also (check out my album for pictures.

I replaced my pump many times, I finally bought an ACDelco pump, and havent had a problem since

 

I just finished installing 4 airtex pumps in my 91 over a 4 month period. 2 failed within 1st 3 weeks....finally i forked out the money for a ac delco. no prob since...never again airtex....never again..

 

This is the pump I bought and am currently using, NEW FUEL PUMP WITH INSTALLATION KIT E3270 | eBay

For $22 it's a steal and I havn't had any problems yet, my fingers are crossed. And I am not looking forward to ever having to change my fuel pump again but honestly I think it's unecessary to cut a hole unless you really don't care about gas smell and doing it right. There are 2 bolts for the upper tank straps up by the bumper and then a few more bolts for the lower starps and it's out with a bunch of swearing and rust in your eyes. I would say the biggest problem for these pumps is that the 2 inches of hose on them cracks and then the pump overheats because of the loss of pressure.

 

I would rather have not had to cut out the floor to get to it either, but it was honestly the best choice in this particular rust bucket. It's kinda like a house that has had previous termite damage. There are certain cans of worms that are best not opened, unless you want to rebuild half the house. Not only would I have had to replace just about anything I removed under there, but disconnecting the lines would have been nearly impossible from under there, in the rusted shape they were in. Even being able to get right over the top of them like I was with the floor out, I still had to be careful not to ruin the lines I need to re-connect to.
Not to worry....the hole will be completely resealed against any vapor penetration into the vehicle from there.