Newbie here-

I am unable to get my 2003 5.3 liter Tahoe engine to start when the engine has been off for a few hours and the fuel gauge is ¼ of a tank or less. I can get the engine to start by adding a couple of gallons of gas. I filled the gas tank full immediately after adding about 2 gallons and the fill-up required 18 gallons, so I should have had about 6 gallons in the tank. Can the fuel system lose pump prime?

I am not the handy sort and I am not going to fool around with the fuel system, so this will have to be a professional fix.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Check fuel pressure. It sounds like your fuel pump is going south.

 

I agree! Unfortunately it sounds like you are going to have to get your hands dirty. Check the fuel pressure and you can always bang it with a rubber mallet to see if it will come back to life. - had to do it a couple of times at the shop to bring cars in and out of the stalls.

 

Broke down and had a local car repair shop check the fuel pump and they found low pressure. 3 hours of labor at $89, $361 pump and $45 of shop supplies fixed the problem.

I also had then lube the mid steering shaft that was "clunking" when making a hard turn and the clunk sound is gone.