I have a '98 Silverado and have had no problems so far. Went to town tonight and everything was fine as usual. Stopped by to see a friend of mine and stayed about an hour. When I got in the truck to leave it wouldn't start. It turns over. I then just cut the key on and listened for the fuel pump. I did not hear it. Does this mean that the fuel pump has died on me or did something just come loose? I check the fuses and did not see a bad one but I may not have been looking in the right place. Is there anything that I can check first before i spend $268 on a new fuel pump. Also, if it is the fuel pump, how hard is it to switch out. Please help me!!!

 

Someone should know on here for sure how to check it but there is a test port for the fuel pump. Also check your relays. It does sound like your fuel pump. As for changing it you have to drop your tank after that it is pretty simple.

 

I have a question regarding a 1993 silverado with the 5.7l engine that doesn't want to start either. It cranks and will fire once, then dies immediately. After that, it will not start. I thought maybe it was the fuel pump relay or filter, both of which I replaced. I even thought that maybe it might have been the coil pack which I also replaced. Now, I have been told it might be that the truck is not getting any oil pressure. Should I replace the oil pump?

 

The fuel pump isn't difficult to replace at all. You need to drop the gas tank and take the fuel pump out of the top of the tank. You can also take off the bed to access it....but its easier to drop the tank. There should be two or three straps holding the tank to the bottom of the bed. On either end of the straps there are bolts holding them on. You have to drop those and disconnect the fill line (coming from where you put the gas pump). When you install the new pump, just do reverse of what you did before.

Its best to have two people and a floor jack when you drop the tank....If there is any gas in it, it will be pretty heavy coming down....so you can use a jack to help hold the weight and a second person to lower the jack as you help balance the tank on the jack. Be sure to replace the strainer on teh bottom of the fuel pump as well, usually you have to buy that seperate from the fuel pump.

Once everything is back together, you have to prime your fuel system....you can't just start cranking the motor right away. To prime is easy.....just roll your key on (the spot right before when it starts to crank) and leave it like that for 3 or 4 seconds. Then roll it off and back on for 3 or 4 seconds again. Do this 4 or 5 times to fill all the lines back up with gas and get pressure in the system.

Overall, it shouldn't take more then a few hours for a first timer doing it. My first fuel pump was in an old Nissan pickup and it took me about 2 hours to do by myself with just basic hand tools and a floor jack.

Take a look inside your gas tank while you have it taken off. If there is any gunk built up inside of it, you can clean it out. There are some places that do a chemical dip on them to clean them out really good, or you can just take some solvent and clean it out yourself.

Good luck. Before you dive into the fuel pump, make sure your relays and fuses are good. The could also be a short in the wiring.


And to daytonthunderbird:
this doesn't sound like an oil pressure problem. If it just fires real quick for less then a second, you have a problem elsewhere. You're either lacking fuel or spark in one way or another.

 

first i would replace the oil pressure switch/sender, they are known to go bad ocasionally, and will shut off the fuel pump if the switch quits working.
but you need to verify that it is the fuel pump shutting off. if you can jump a wire across where the relay plugs in, or find the pump test plug and basically hotwire the fuel pump to keep it on see if it stays running then.