Hi all!

I'm the proud owner of a butt-ugly, rear-ended-a-truck 2001 SL2 with 210,000 miles on her. Purrs like a kitten when she's running. Currently ... she ain't.

Several weeks back (after just replacing the starter motor) my fuel pump died. Thankfully I was only a block away from my house and managed to push her back to the house.

I could tell that the fuel pump was the culprit because the starter (brand new and spunky, ready to go) was giving it all she had, but I was getting zero engagement from the engine. All electronics were on and working, all fuses and relays were good as checked, and when I put the vehicle into the run position I didn't hear the fuel pump kick on.

So ... my inexperienced dumb self went and bought a fuel pump!

Not the assembly mind you. Just the pump.

I spent the entire day removing the fuel tank and getting the old pump out, soaking myself with gasoline in the process, but I managed to install the new motor into the old assembly. My biggest issue across the entire repair was that I had to use the old filters because the new filters that came with the generic pump in no way fit.

All connections were checked and snug ... all tie-downs were good, all clamps and clips were good. Everything was solid going back up, no lazy work or shortcuts.

Turned her over and - success! She starts! I warmed it up for a minute and pulled out of the driveway and did a lap around the block.

I made it about 4/5 of the way around the block before the pump unceremoniously died.

Unsure why. I had enough momentum to allow myself to coast through a stop sign (oops) and make it back to my house and park her on the street, where she sits currently.

The fuel pump is giving me the same behavior as before. Just doesn't click on at all.

A few other things I've noticed while poking around:

- At DC 20V, my multimeter shows that my battery (which I just replaced a month ago) sometimes doesn't get up to 12V right away when I put the leads on it. It gets there eventually and stays there ... but it takes a sec. (Again, attempting to start the car results in all electronics and the starter motor working great, but no engagement from the engine.)
- When putting the vehicle in the run position, the fuel gage comes online and reads correctly.
- In the trunk, there's a connector that I can unclip that runs to the fuel pump. When I first diagnosed that my pump was bad, I was getting 8V on one of the leads on this connector (unsure which one is the one that goes to the computer and which is the one that goes to the pump). Now, when I test that same lead, I get nothing. Even when the car is in the run position.
- After stopping the vehicle at its final resting place (for now) I also checked all the fuel lines for leaks and found nothing over several days. I don't seem to have a leak issue.

TL;DR I tried to replace my fuel pump and failed. Help?

Thanks everyone. <3

 

Geez, I'm not sure what to tell you. First thing I'd do is check fuses again. If not that, then it sounds like you're going to need to do it all over again, but purchase the complete assembly with filters. Is definitely sounds like a power issue, so check fuses and relays before going to the extreme. Where did you get that pump? I'd go to rockauto.com and look at theirs. They have complete pump assemblies from $48 to $310. Personally, I'd go with one of the ones around $76-85. No way in hell I'd spend $310 on a car with that many miles on it. BUT, I'm a cheap bastard.

 

Rube is correct. He is a cheap bastard.

Take the instrument panel junction box apart from the driver's side and look at pins F2/F4/F5 .The feed to the fuel pump comes off one of these. They tend to overheat, melt, and disconnect, especially if the lighter socket/circuit is used to carry a continuous non-trivial current, like an aftermarket stereo tapped into the circuit or a good healthy draw from today's rapid cell phone chargers. The wiring for the cigarette lighter was selected for that purpose -- high current/short time, then off. It was never meant to be a 12V utility socket, but in today's world, it is often used for that.

This might account for the fuel pump seemingly disconnected.

I agree 100% w Rube. You need to replace the entire fuel pump. If you are dropping the tank you might as well buy an assembly with the sender included --- IF you plan to keep the car. Clearly you don't ever want to have to drop the tank again,,,,,,,,

 

Thank you to you both!!

I went ahead and ordered a brand new pump assembly with everything attached. I’m not sure why I hadn’t done that in the first place.

Definitely don’t want to drop the tank again, but she’s what I’ve got for now so I have to keep her going.

Thanks again guys! I’ll post updates on this thread when I poke around that fuse box and when I complete the repair.

 

Thanks again guys!

I got some new fuses and fixed that, and bought a whole fuel pump assembly from 1A Auto which I installed today and works great! No leaks or weirdness, no behavioral issues, the pump sounds nice and strong when starting her up.

I’m glad I checked with you folks. Thanks again for the help!

 

Congrats. Another happy customer served

 

Thanks for coming back and letting us know. Congratulations on the fix. Be careful out there.