To extend pump life never drive in the "orange" of the fuel gauge or the " crap,I'm almost out of gas" range .The pump is cooled by the fuel. As mentioned by blue who, fuel filters every year. I got 280000km (174000miles) on my first pump.Carter designed them to last 160000km (100000 miles)
mountain_man
New member
just think about how long cars and trucks would last if everyone was as meticulous about them as we are with our sleds...
lol i do replace mine fuel filter every year. 1st one went because of contaminated gas (too much dirt) and there was only 1 other truck that fueled at the same spot that got away with a filter. bunch of others had to do injectors and a system flush. wasn't pretty.
come to think of it, it was not the pump but the realay in the fuel tank that burnt that time. usually fill up at 1/8 tank left as the thing holds 120l of gas whitch is more expensive than blood sometimes around here.
come to think of it, it was not the pump but the realay in the fuel tank that burnt that time. usually fill up at 1/8 tank left as the thing holds 120l of gas whitch is more expensive than blood sometimes around here.
luvsno
Member
gas gauge
I also own a 99 suburban and 98 chev k1500, both trucks do it. I was a GM Driveability tech for 18 years till 2 years ago, and when the gauges started to flucutate the cleaner is the only thing that worked. They have now diluted it and you almost have to use it every time. We just got used to it and my wife sets the trip meter for herself. My p/up isn't too bad yet, we try to use Shell and stay away from Petro and Sunoco but they are all trying new crap in the fuels here in Canada and it really messes with the level sensor. I don't miss telling the customers that they are out of gas and the tow call is not warranty because the gauge showed 1/4 and now after 3 or 4 ignition cycles it drops to empty.
I also own a 99 suburban and 98 chev k1500, both trucks do it. I was a GM Driveability tech for 18 years till 2 years ago, and when the gauges started to flucutate the cleaner is the only thing that worked. They have now diluted it and you almost have to use it every time. We just got used to it and my wife sets the trip meter for herself. My p/up isn't too bad yet, we try to use Shell and stay away from Petro and Sunoco but they are all trying new crap in the fuels here in Canada and it really messes with the level sensor. I don't miss telling the customers that they are out of gas and the tow call is not warranty because the gauge showed 1/4 and now after 3 or 4 ignition cycles it drops to empty.
mountain_man
New member
That's GM's fix for a lot of things. Just run some cleaner through it. lol. Also have the bulletin saying you should only use "top tier" fuel and nothing else... we also have a warranty bin full of bad level sensors with the broken card feelers.
Used about a gallon of injector cleaner in the last while and made no diff on the gas gauge. Still jumps around alot. Broke down and installed a new pump/sender assembly. The other pump needed a jump start once or twice. Thot it would be a good idea to change it before it fails. Well the new assembly made no diff! 
The gauge still bounces around. 
Do ya think it could be a bad ground somewhere??
The gauge still bounces around. Do ya think it could be a bad ground somewhere??
9801srx
Member
as far as i know it's in the guage cluster. my 98 silverado does the same thing, also my volt guage reads all over the place but ya check the voltage with a meter and it is fine. i think the problem is poor solider connections in the cluster i haven't checked it yet but i have fixed a few gm digital clusters with the same type of problems caused by poor solider connections on the circuit boards.
stein700sx said:
Heat and particulate matter are the biggest enemies of an intake electric fuel pump.
In a return style fuel system, the filter becomes more efficient at cleaning particulate than a new one. Of course flow through the system decreases and less heat is carried away from the pump thus affecting pump life. Combine that with all that fuel making the 'round trip to the fuel rail and back(with little of it being consumed) and you end up with even hotter fuel. Regular filter changes does help pump life.
Having said that, I changed the filter in my Bronco (a return style system) for the first time at well over 150K. I gave the truck to my nephew with over 300K on the original g-rotor pump. These were mostly highway miles vs. city cycles which also have a detrimental affect on pump life... kinda like a lightbulb.
In a returnless system, excess fuel flow not consumed by the engine is within the pump/tank so changing filters down stream does not have an affect on pump life. The efficiency of the pump inlet "sock" does. Most turbine pumps can handle fairly large particulate (up to 40-50 microns). Some are real rock crushers and can handle a large micron filter which will flow the required amount of fuel (for heat disipation) for longer periods.
Back to your indication issue... I'm not sure of other cleaners as I've only tested Techron and I assume GM's cleaner is simliar, but Techron did show improvement in cleaning the corrosive affects of elimental sulfur on the printed sender card. There was an issue of high levels of elimental sulfur in some fuels North American wide a year or so back. A couple refineries paid for sender replacements in the Southwest. These areas are notorious for required filter changes at 10k miles because the fuel is so dirty.
You can see if the old sender was a possible cause by looking at the sender resistance with an ohm meter. Hook up to the sender signal and ground and sweep the float arm slowly and watch for a smooth change in resistance from E stop to F stop. If you see it going open or spike open or closed its probably contaminated.
Since you've replaced it and it's still erratic, I'd guess at some type of loose/corroded connection between the sender and cluster. As 9801 suggested, pull the cluster and follow the circuit to the gauge and also the pins/terminals at the cluster connector. If okay, find the two wires that go to the sender at the cluster connector and monitor the resistance while rocking the vehicle to get some slosh going in the tank. You should see changes in resistance of 20-40 ohms and settle to a change of 1-3 ohms but it shouldn't go open.
Might want to carry a gas can too;>)
Chevron Techron works for this issue. I have had better luck with the aftermarket fuel pumps from Airpump I think it is.
I know this thread is 6 months old, but the uber fast twitchy fuel gauge issue is a cluster failure. the needles have oil in them that stops them from moving too rapidly. If the oil is lost it will do as described. I have a 98 Silverado that did the same thing. Replaced the cluster with a good used unit and its fine. The odomoter rollers will switch to the replacement cluster too so your mileage isn't affected. I work in a GM garage and have seen this time and time again.