Help me I'm stumped. Truck died and will no longer run.

[MOBS]

Yep, remove bed bolts, taillights, and fuel filler neck ground strap....I believe that's all I had to do.

 

[borahshadow]

Alright looks like the bed is probably coming off tomorrow. Just to make sure I got it right. 8 bolts, Remove the tail lights and unplug them, Find the filler neck ground strap and that's pretty much it?

I'm debating whether or not to even bother testing the fuel pressure with as confident as everyone here is that it is my fuel pump... Assuming that I can't find one to borrow tonight that's $20 I could put towards the pump instead of a tester.

yeah, you can do either, but I prefer removing the bed like was mentioned. if you don't have someone to help you lift the bed off the frame, I've used a cherry picker engine hoist before to lift it off....its really not too hard a job once you get into it, it just seems daunting, I know how you feel, I had to replace mine last time outside in subzero weather...I hate the cold...

the stock pump is a good pump IF you use a delco/delphi brand....any off brand/store brand assembly will not last, and you'll be replacing it again soon....the stock pump will feed a genIII engine just fine. it will actually feed quite a bit of horsepower very well and there are some things you can do to increase their longevity, such as replacing the fuel filter routinely (I replace mine ~1 per year, usually in the fall when I change the oil.), also don't let the fuel in the tank drop below 1/4 tank if you can help it, the pump uses the fuel in the tank to cool it, if you regularly run the tank really low it can cause the pump to overheat at those times and shorten it's lifespan.

you'll want to replace the whole sender/wiring harness assembly, which will come with the stock pump, these trucks had an issue with the wiring corroding and melting, as well as the sender wearing down and causing wierd artifact in the fuel gauge needle reading, even if you don't have problems with the gauge now, it'll likely happen before you need to replace the pump again, the little contacts within the sender are mechanical and wear out over time....in fact if you want a funny video of what my fuel gauge was doing when my sender started having problem, check this out, the video quality isn't great, but if you also look at the oil pressure needle below it, every time that one twitches, the fuel gauge is swinging around and hitting it, its like watching a lightsabre fight at night with my LEDs on:

http://s461.photobucket.com/albums/qq337/guitargeek1968/?action=view¤t=Insanefuelgauge.mp4

I called my parts store of preference as I was driving back to town and they've got one in stock and they said it's made by delphi so I should be good to go for hopefully another 200K miles with that thing. I've heard about keeping the tank more than 3/8 full whenever possible for the cooling... I will most likely be replacing my fuel filter about every 10k from here on out.

That's a pretty funny video of your gas gauge. I was debating on whether or not to spend the $50-$75 more to get the whole unit or just the pump. Looks like I'll be getting the whole unit.



I think I'm going to treat my frame rails while I've go the bed off. Any suggestions on what to use or how to do it?

 

[borahshadow]

The engine fired up when I poured some gas down the intake so I think I'm just going to go ahead and replace the fuel pump tomorrow. I never tracked down a pressure tester to borrow but I think I'll just go for it.

 

[DRAGGIN95]

I think that's a good idea, it sure sound's like your pump to me!

 

[Aloicious]

yup, it should be the pump...get the whole assembly...if its a delphi or delco you should be good....do not get like a carter, or airtex, or duralast, or anything like that unless you want to replace it again in 20k miles...

you'll need to take off the bed to frame bolts...unplug the lights, unbolt the ground strap at the filler neck, and then there are a few small screws around the filler neck where it meets the bed that I had to take off as well...and that should be about it IIRC.

 

[DRAGGIN95]

Word on the Delphi!

 

[borahshadow]

Question: Are these bolts supposed to have loctite on them? I got one of them pulled off and I noticed that it's got greenish blue stuff on it. It almost looked like copper oxidation but I don't know what there would be that is copper up there.

A couple of things I've learned. 1. I think I'm going to need a better impact wrench unless I want to work these all of the way out with a breaker bar... PITA
2. In the winter time when rocks like to hitch a ride into the shop inside ice build up... Sweep the floor before you pull a non-driving vehicle in to work on it. lol Creepers don't like rocks and it's hard to sweep under a truck. I can't simply pull the truck out of the way and sweep either.
I'll get better at this eventually

 

[Aloicious]

I don't think there is locktite on them, not sure what the discoloration is, maybe some kind of odd corrosion like you said.

 

[MOBS]

It could be anti-seize....but from the sounds of it, doesn't look like it worked too well

 

[Marcos]

My bed bolts have some blue on the thread.