Fuel Pump issue
 

93 toyota pickup V6 auto with dual rear wheels with 100000 mi. Just drove 2000 miles with minor issues and now worst case scenario.

Driveing along at 60 MPH and engine dies, Sitting on side of road in hell's canyon S Dakota, no internet no cell phone coverage. A good Samaritan stops declares it is the fuel pump and suggests banging on gas tank. It worked!

Headed for next town New Castle WY, truck died 2 more times but banging on thank and it started again and ran fine. Found a mechanic late Sat afternoon, he seemed fairly competent but could find nothing wrong, checked fuel pressure (40 psi)and relays and such.

He suggested replacing fuel pump as a precautionary measure. I agreed but in a small town on Sat will not get the pump untill tuesday.

Edit, forgot to mention had a check engine so I checked codes and have a code 25.

















Has anyone else had an issue like this or is there anything else I can check? Jim

To me it just sounds like your fuel pump is dying. You could try jumping it via the diagnostic box under the hood to see if it makes any difference.

The problem with "precautionary measures" like this is that you really have no idea if you're fixing anything relevant. You might, for instance, have some sort of temperature related problem, so when something gets warm the pickup dies. Then, in the time you're banging on the fuel tank, things cool off, and the truck runs for awhile.

If you weren't sitting in a very nice little town where you can get the fuel pump replaced in just a few days, I'd suggest something like using your paperclip to jumper fp to b+ whenever it died. If you could hear the fuel pump running when you did that, it would suggest your problem lay elsewhere.

In the end, even though I'm not too sure that banging on a fuel tank would do anything useful, replacing the fuel pump in your circumstance sounds pretty reasonable.

The mechanic will be able to tell if there's much "crud" in the tank as soon as he pulls the pump. If there is, that could explain the "banging" cure (crud blocked the fuel pump sock, which you managed to knock loose). More importantly, if you seen any crud, you need to clean the tank AND replace your fuel filter.

Like scope103 mentioned, next time see what jumping the fp b+ does for you. From my experience, a fuel pump sometimes give one or two warnings that it is about to die. Not always, sometimes they die all at once. Not sure if you run your tank on empty, but running an electric fuel pump on empty kills fuel pumps. I usually fill up at 1/4 tank and seldom go less then an 1/8th. Unless you are dealing with a dirty fuel tank, pumps should last a long time.

It might just be the pump was on it`s way out this long trip pushed it over the edge.

Are you in the habit of allowing the tank to run real low that seems to cause early pump failures

Thanks for the input, greatly appreciated. Jim

I would do some more diagnostic work... All the info is on this site. Only use toyota or Denso pumps. Really possible to tear up fuel pump bracket when removing and that's another $200 provided you can find one and wait. I went through a similar situation. Precautionary replaced fuel pump, FUBAR'd bracket. Only to later figure out it was a broken wire in fuel pump harness. So I spent hours pulling my hair out, $350 dollars, only to discover it was less than a dollar fix.

sometimes the pump rotor/commutator sticks if the pump is failing, which is why banging the tank sometimes works.

running the tank nearly empty does not harm the pump at all, the fuel being pumped through it keeps it cool, not the immersion in fuel. i put 300k miles on the twin denso pumps in my subaru, and i always ran the tank down to nearly empty for 15 years.

wally

As I sit here with nothing to do, I try surf the web on this issue, it is rather tedious as I am getting wifi from a Pizza Hut about a block away and keep losing signal, plus it is slow when I do have it.
In reading on this and as suggested above jumping FP to B+ at the diagnostic port will turn the pump on. So if the new pump does not fix the issue could I jumper them and drive like that? Only to the next area where I can work on it?
Jim

Jumping it will by-pass a safety mechanism. If it works go for it. That kinda points you to AFM not pump nor wiring to pump. Nor pump relay.

AFM? It's early not sure what AFM is? Jim

edit: opp's sorry MAF, now I have it

If it starts by banging on the tank you need a pump. I see this daily at work. Only once was it wiring, and hitting the tank would close the open circuit for a bit, until you hit another bump..

I agree with Wally.

Or check voltage at pump... Make sure within spec. No voltage broken wire, low voltage poor contact damaged wire. Expensive job to pay some one else to fix your ride only not to have it fixed. Just my $.02

the voltage at the pump can be checked, but it isn't easy to get at the connectors to do the check, unless you are willing to poke through the insulation (i'm not/wasn't willing to do that on my truck). but, yes, it is cheaper to test the voltage than to have someone else replace parts that turn out to be perfectly good.

And now for the rest of the story!
Sitting in Newcastle WY without a clear problem, reading over the ans here and chatting with mechanic, I decided on a new fuel pump.
This is the middle of God's country nowhere and did not get pump till Tue morning.

Tank was pulled and in tank filter was in horrible condition, filled with big chunks of rust and just nasty looking and of course the new pump did not come with a filter and NAPA did not have one on hand, so wait another day or mechanic will find filter to fit pump, so mech went and looked for filter. Inside of tank is a mess of rust, but will use untill I reach home, where I can redo at my leisure.

New pump and filter is installed for a total of $466, will be starting a GoFundMe account for help with this one.

Left Newcastle and drove up and down mountains, through Yellowstone park, across Idaho and Washington and now sitting south of Seattle and have had no issues, not even a hiccup! Appears problem was likely pump or just as posssible in tank filer was starving pump for gas or a combination of the two.

Next will be looking for a tank.

Many thanks for the input and suggestions always greatly appreciated, may not have saved me any money this time but helped me make decisions. Jim