I bought a 2005 base Blazer (2WD) with a lift kit on it from a police auction a month ago. It has 118,000 miles on it. The lift kit looks recent, like 5 years old. I hit a bump and the engine died. When I went to restart, not only did the temperature gauge not register but also the gas gauge. If I let it sit for about 5 minutes, the gas gauge will register 1/2 tank. Before I pull the tank out to check the fuel pump, is there anything else I could look at?

 

When my rear axle yoke broke, and my driveshaft went bouncing around on the highway.....


it hit the gas tank with enough force to loosen the plug on the pump, got it towed to a shop, all fixed up, left the shop and hit a SMALL bump on the highway, and the plug came off killing the truck. Now I dont remember anything with the gauges, but maybe something to check. Also the distributor cap might have popped off of one of the cap screw locations are broken.

not sure what else, but someone will chime in. Any other symptoms with it? Is power holding? All else is good? What test(s) have you done, i.e. fuel pressure, voltage...

 

You should travel with the ability to test fuel pressure and spark and find out which it is when the truck is dead, then we can narrow it down from there.

A quick and dirty test would be to see if you hear the pump energize for a few seconds at key on when the truck is dead.

George

 

Listening for the pump is not always a reliable method to determine if the pump is still good. When it went out in my 04, it still made sound as if it were working properly, but it was not making any pressure at all. In my case of a bad fuel pump, I drove into town, shut the truck off to go inside and get a haircut, came back out, and it wouldn't start.

I would agree on the fuel pump plug though. Easy check anyhow. Just crawl up under the truck and you should be able to reach up on top of the tank and place you hand on the plug. Make sure the plug is securely clipped into place. There's two plugs, one that has just 3 wires, it is the pressure sensor for the tank. If that were to come unplugged it'll just throw a check engine light on, but the truck will still run. The larger plug with 4 or 5 wires on it (4 I think, it's been a while...) is the one that powers the fuel pump and sends the signal from the level sensor to the rest of the truck. If that one comes unplugged, or a ground wire has broken or rotted through, that would certainly shut the truck down.

Can also check the fuel pump relay under the hood. Pretty sure it's the same relay as a few others in the fuse box, so you could try swapping them around and seeing if that kicks it back on.

 

I agree that listening to the pump is not a complete diagnosis and encourage proper fuel pressure testing, and if found to be functioning correctly, proper ignition testing.If fuel pressure is improper then determine if it’s the pump, filter, regulator, injectors or power. That said, if the pump is not energizing at key on then that is a starting clue that the fuel pump or it’s power may be the issue and I offered that because many members here do not have the garage full of tools that many of us have. Same with a quick spark test while disabled and if you confirm no spark at the plugs then you still don’t know what’s wrong. In a similar fashion, seeing a spark is not good enough. It needs to be strong enough, consistent enough and have the correct timing.

Your suggestions about wiring and connectors are as good a guess as any as to what is happening here but it would still be best to determine fuel pressure vs spark while disabled to eliminate half of the possibilities and then further identify from there.

George

 

It is illogical to have a concurrent fault in gauges then go chasing fuel pumps.

Whats the fuel pump got to do with gauges? Nothing.

Pull all the fuses for the affected circuits, look for corrosion in them.

 

I'd also suggest to check all the wiring to the rear. Lift kit and such may have included some hack-job.

Check battery (maybe charge)
Check all fuses

Also go in-depth checking what else is not working on the dash, and also check all interior and exterior lights. HVAC controls etc. All functions. Even with the engine not running some controls should work, blower, lights and associated indicators on the dash, windows etc.

 

Replaced pump only to still not have it work. Discovered when the pump died, the fuse blew. Replaced fuse and everything works again. Next time I have to do that, I’m replacing the whole tank due to the rust on the l locking ring.

 

the tank should be plastic if its a 4 door, not sure about 2 doors. Replace the locking ring and it should be gold.