dancing fuel gauge in a 2001 chevy 3/4had 4x4

[coggonobrien]

Hey folks,
the gas gauge in my dad's truck seems to randomly go to beyond empty then come back up on it's own after a while. anybody seen this?

Thanks,
David

[GCncsuHD]

The sender is going out. Bad part is the sender and the pump are all one assembly. I had to replace mine right after I bought my 01 with 70k mi, it was doing the same.

[coggonobrien]

how expensive was it?

[ybnaford]

I had the same issue on a 01 1500 Silverado. Mine would get to the end bottom out, then bounce back and forth. Truck would sputter then keep going. Mine ended up being the fuel pump in the tank. Which as stated before is part of the sending unit. All one piece and the tank needs to be dropped and the unit removed and replaced. I have found that Summit racing and a few others have the replacement pump assembly from about $215 up. Also depends on if you do it yourself or pay to have it done. The later will be of considerable cost. Remember to run the tank pretty close to empty when ready to change. I had the misfortune of just filling up when it died.
http://www.summitracing.com/search/y...?Ns=Rank%7cAsc

[GCncsuHD]

Originally Posted by coggonobrien

how expensive was it?

I lucked out, even though I bought my truck with a little over 70k miles, and no warranty, this issue started a couple days after I bought it. Called the dealership, they said bring it in. I only waited about 2 hours, they pulled the bed off since I had a full tank (reason I knew something was wrong, I put in 20 gallons, it said empty ), and dropped the new one in. Invoice said $900 but that is dealership prices. They covered it

In contrast, the same issue happened with my 98 K2500 work truck. Pump/sending unit assembly was around $200, took me about 15 minutes to swap it out, one benefit of having a dump bed

[bighaas79]

Originally Posted by GCncsuHD

The sender is going out. Bad part is the sender and the pump are all one assembly. I had to replace mine right after I bought my 01 with 70k mi, it was doing the same.

Not so. If you still have the original gm pump in the truck you can get just the sender from gm now. They do not fit any aftermarket pumps tho. Same amount of labor but the part is cheaper than the whole assembly.

Edit.. let me rephrase that if you have the original gm pump or if you have replaced with a gm unit (delco and I believe delphi) the sending unit will fit the pump.

[coggonobrien]

hmm we have the original and labor = me

[jocko]

if you have around 150k miles or more on the truck, highly recommend replacing the whole pump/sender as a unit anyway. It will save you time (and labor) in the long run and potentially a pita stranding at an inopportune time (as if there is an opportune time to be stranded). But - the point is that these pumps live around 150k ON AVERAGE... i.e. I'm sure someone out there has 500K on one. but mine went at 150K - and the place I had to get it fixed at because I was in the middle of a move and had no garage (i.e. inopportune) told me they've replaced hundreds of these right at 150K. I travel a lot and needed the best reliability I could get.

One more thing - pay the extra $ to get a genuine GM replacement. You may have to ask for it specifically, but you can get it - I believe it's a Delphi part number and should be somewhere in the $250-$325 range. I know Kragen/Oreilly's and Car Quest can get it - don't bother going to the dealer, they will gouge you blind, but do go to the trouble of getting a US GM replacement part thru the parts counter at a reputable store - they CAN get them for you if you ask. If you get it for $200 or less, take notes on how you replaced it because you'll be doing it again soon - or maybe be living with a noisy/whining pump that will drive you nuts. (Good thing you are doing it yourself - it cost me $900 and I had no choice becasue I had no house/garage/driveway, etc to work on it in the middle of my move across the country). So your labor is worth about $600, that should make you feel pretty darn good.

[GCncsuHD]

Originally Posted by bighaas79

Not so. If you still have the original gm pump in the truck you can get just the sender from gm now. They do not fit any aftermarket pumps tho. Same amount of labor but the part is cheaper than the whole assembly.

Edit.. let me rephrase that if you have the original gm pump or if you have replaced with a gm unit (delco and I believe delphi) the sending unit will fit the pump.

Maybe....But I don't believe they were available 6 years ago when I replaced mine. And it's a pretty good idea to go ahead and replace the whole unit, fuel pumps have a history of quitting on you in the most inopportune times.

[bighaas79]

Originally Posted by GCncsuHD

Maybe....But I don't believe they were available 6 years ago when I replaced mine. And it's a pretty good idea to go ahead and replace the whole unit, fuel pumps have a history of quitting on you in the most inopportune times.

True but if you have the equipment and the know how to test the pump electrically you can see if the pump is going bad or not, If it is still good electrically then why spend the extra money. Granted in this case you might as well change the whole pump. THat and the check valve can also go bad out of the blue and there is no way to test how good that is until it quits holding pressure.

[biggsteve97]

my buddys 02 1/2 ton and my 03 Tahoe did the same thing but it was not the sending unit. After swapping out a few fuel pump assemblies it turned out our problem was the stepper motor in the fuel gauge, bad part was we had to replace the whole cluster to replace the stepper motor. My buddy was lucky he had an 02 so he swapped in a known good cluster from an HD with the trans temp gauge and has no problems since. I on the other with an 03 wasnt so lucky, thanks to GM making everything VIN specific I had to get a new cluster so i upgraded to the Escalade cluster.

[62low72High]

My 2000 Tahoe is doing the needle dance with a brand new fuel pump. I was told it's in the gauge.
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