DirtyT...

Personally, I think you made a mistake by taking the Ebay cheap route. You'll probably end up having to replace it again. Just my $.02. And the rockauto site is easy to navigate. Just select your vehicle make, model and year first, and then the search will only return parts applicable to your truck. The only differences I saw with the AC Delco pumps is that one is for the 2-door and one's for the 4-door. This is because the 2 and 4 doors use differently sized/shaped tanks.

Rriddle...You're right. I am going to test it and here's why. Since Tuesday's stallout, I haven't had a single problem since! I was prepared to drop the $400 today to get the pump, tank and hardware, but now I'm not so sure I need to do it yet. On the other hand, if I don't buy it and the pump dies suddenly, I won't have the parts I need to take care of it right away. Choices, choices...I'll keep you guys posted...

 

Well, the AC Delco(I'm assuming it's the stock pump in there) died at only 77K miles and the fuel sending unit has been bad since I bought the truck only 2K miles ago. I figure I'll be changing it again in a few years anyway. I told my wife we shouldn't have bought a chevy...never had any good luck with them. I've always hadgreat experienceswith Fords. Chevy always makes a strong engine, but reliability is terrible.These trucks are rated among the worst as far as reliability and has one of the highest driver fatality rates of all vehicles. Wish I did my research before buying this thing....

 

My sisters fuel pump went out on her blazer and although the $360.00 for the pump was hard to swallow, I'd rather spend the money and get a good one than to buy a cheap one and have to change it 6 months-1 year later.

 

Unless you bought the truck brand new, you can't assume it was the stock one in there. However, the S-series sending units are indeed notoriously bad, as they commonly send the wrong information to the fuel gauge. BOTH our trucks have this problem. However, I heard GM corrected it in later fuel pumps, so supposedly it's not supposed to happen if you replace it with a new AC Delco pump. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

I believe my pump is the factory one, but I won't know for sure until I drop the tank and get a look-see. If it is indeed the original one, then it lasted 167,000 miles. To me, that's pretty impressive. I recently replaced the fuel filter, and I'm pretty sure it was the original one, because it was totally rusted on. LOL

 

x2 on fixing the senders in the newer pumps. Also the whole deal with GM making it two seperate parts helps costs if you keep using the bad gas and kill your sender again.

And as far as reliability...eh..no comment on that one

Accident injury however...if you read the crash test rating, at least the US NTSB or whomever does the tests federally...they noted an anomoly in the Blazer's crash test...the driver's head hit the window frame in two places, yielding the poor crash rating for front offset impact, but they noted the passenger's head did not impact the frame at the same collision on that side. Crash rating or not....I'd rather be in the blazer than a unibody Ford/Jeep if I get t-boned

 

I had an electric fuel pump on a Mazda RX-7 go out at ~50k miles. At the time a much costlier car than a Blazer is now, so does that make it a worse vehicle for reliability?
Worst reliability I ever had was with Fords. Best was with a Dodge Dakota.
I know the study concerning the 'driver fatality' rates. The details of the report make a difference.
In other words, it's all relative depending on your perspective.

 

Good to know about the Dakotas, because I recently have been considering getting one (but I'm still keeping the Blazer).

Meanwhile, it's been six days since the stallout, and it hasn't happened again -- not even once. I filled the tank all the way and reset the trip odometer, since I know about how much mileage I should get per tank. Based on how many miles I've driven since the fillup, it should be right at half a tank, but it's still showing 3/4 full. As things progress, I'm believing the problem is the sending unit itself; that I simply ran out of gas because the gauge said I had more gas than I thought I had. The fact that I was on an upward incline when it stalled also makes me think this.

Even so, if the sending unit's on the way out, it makes me question the integrity of the entire pump assembly. I haven't bought a new pump yet. However, I think after I have driven a tank's worth of gas, I may still replace it, depending on how bad my gauge is off. If I do, I will let you guys know what the pump looks like when I take it out.

EDIT: 5/16/2008

Well, it's been 10 days since the original problem, and here's what's happening now.

This morning, when I went outside to start the truck, it didn't want to start the first time I turned the key. Then with the second attempt it started right up. Once it's running, the engine sounds perfect. I also noticed that, according to the trip odometer, my tank should have been right around 1/4, but it was showing almost full. So I went straight to a gas station and filled it up. It took 8 gallons to fill, so I know the fuel gauge was way off. From the gas station, it started right up without a problem.

Then, as I was pulling into the parking lot at work (and I was on an upward incline again), it tried to stall out. I lightly tapped the gas to keep it going, then it got me the rest of the way into the parking lot. Since I just filled the tank, I know it wasn't because of a lack of fuel. This was after 10 miles of driving.

In the parking space I let it idle for a few minutes, then I revved the gas to see what would happen. Several times it sputtered like it was gasping for fuel. When I released the gas and let it idle, it purred and ran fine. Then when I shut off the engine, I noticed that burning fuel smell again. It was coming in through the vent, as well as near the fuel line, which I thought was pretty strange. When I popped the hood, I could smell it strongly from the engine compartment. It's really making me think the problem could be the regulator and not the pump. But since I still haven't done the pressure test, I don't know. I will do that pronto, once the rain lets up a little. Any suggestions are welcome, though I think you guys are waiting for me to do the test first. LOL

 

The fuel pump assy. fixed it, and fixed the fluctuating fuel gage. I got the pump new on ebay for less than $100 shipped and installed it on Monday. I hope it lasts awhile.

As a side note,on Wednesdaywhen I was running low on gas, it died on me again as I slowed to pull into the gas station. The Range indicator said "Lo". I thought "Oh God, not again". It started right back up and the low fuel light was on. I refilled and haven't had anymore problems. I hope it wasn'ta sign of things to come. I'm scared to take it on a road trip now, which is one reason I bought it.

 

DirtyT - please keep us posted on whether your new pump is okay. Every once in a while people sell defective parts. Hopefully yours is good.

Here's another update on my situation. The SAME DAY I edited my previous post (last Friday), I went back out to my truck after work. It didn't start at all, after about 15-20 minutes of attempts. I had my fuel pressure gauge with me, so I slapped it onto the Schrader valve and tested it. It consistently came back at 44-46 psi. On a '96, it has to be at 55-61 psi to start the engine. Note that the psi requirement does vary depending on theyear of your truck. The Haynes manual will tell you the correct level.

Since it was on a 24-7 secured parking lot, I just called my wife for a ride, then Icalled AAA the next day to bring the truck home. I was kicking myself for not ordering the parts from rockauto.com 10 days prior, when I firstshowed signs of aproblem -- but fortunately I have a friend at a stealership who got the AC Delco pumpfor me at wholesale price.

The next day, my friendand I started on the job. Since I had JUST FILLED the damn tank before the pump died, it was a challenge getting it out, but we did fine. Then I just poured half the gas out into cans. I gavea quarter tanktomy wife'sJimmy anda quarter tankto my friend's van. Half a tank of gas is light enough tocomplete the job.

Getting the old pump out was also alittle challenging, since the fastener was rusted on. However, after lightly spraying it with PB Blaster, thencarefully prying the edge with a screwdriver, we got it off without breaking it. This is why I also wanted toreplace the tank, but now I can't due to funds. The tank is not damaged otherwise, so it will have to wait until next time. The O-ring also must be seated properly, so take your time when installing. Also be sure to brush as much debris as possible off the top of the tank before youremove the old pump, to contaminate the tank as little as possible.

We had to cut therearfuel filler and evap hoses to get them off. Then we discovered that these hoses are made of a special fuel-resistant material, meaning you MUST NOT use radiator hose as a replacement, even though it looks the same. Four different part stores didn't have it, so again I had to get these from the stealership.

Another minor problem we encountered was that the front vent valve broke because we didn't know it was there. One more part I had to replace, though it was easy to do. Fortunately the hose it was connected to did not break, as the stealership said they don't even manufacture it anymore! [:@]

So...we successfully swapped the pump, hoses, andvent valve and installed them all in the tank -- only to find that we lost the front nut and rear screw that hold the straps in place. We were 95% done with the job, only to find that we're stuck until we get these. Hopefully I will have them by tonight, and we can put everything back together without any problem. Now that I see where everything is, it should be easy. Another thing we did was trash that daggone plastic cover. It was useless and in the way.

It was pretty obvious the old pump needed replacing, as the parts that used to be white were a muddy brown, and the pump's filterwas jet black. I couldn't tell any damage to the sending unit itself just by looking at it, so I have made a note to clean the electrical contacts before connecting them, in case that's what was causing the fuel gauge problem. I'll also inspect the grounds before we put the tank back on.

And yes, your job is much easier if you use ajack to remove and install the tank. This helped immensely.

I to

 

Psychropod, sorry to hear about all your troubles. I have access to a lift on base, so that made the job quite easy. I had half a tank of gas, so I had to graba bystander to drop the tank and to lift it back into place. Other than that, I did it alone. It took me 2.5 hours because I was having trouble getting the hose clamps disconnected on the old pump. Luckily, I also knew about the line on the front of the tank from reading the forums...someone posted instructions. I forgot to print them up, but I remembered that part. Good luck with your truck.