We don't get involved with costs here because there's way too many variables. My mother recently had one replaced in her '95 Grand Caravan for $450.00, but my former employer still likes me so they might have given her a deal.
In general, it's Chrysler fuel pumps that fail to start up, but once they do, they rarely fail while they're running. A bang on the gas tank often gets them going. GM fuel pumps typically start up, then they fail while they're running, leaving you stuck on the side of the road. GM has another thing to be aware of. On some of their engines, they will fail to start when fuel pressure is just two pounds low. Some Chrysler products run the same 50 pounds of pressure but will still run fine down to 20 pounds. That is not common.
That two pounds low causing a no-start is not real common. That applies to the one out of a hundred GM no-starts that defies diagnosis. What you can try first is a shot of starting fluid. If that gets the engine started and it stays running, you might look at the intake air temperature sensor. You need a scanner to view live data. If it is reporting a temperature that is significantly higher than what it actually is, you won't get enough fuel for starting. Temperature sensors have an extremely low failure rate because there's just one component inside them. You'll have more trouble related to corrosion on connector terminals.
If you suspect the fuel pump, next time it won't start, don't do anything further to try to get it started. You want it to stay in that condition for now. You didn't say which engine you have so I don't know which fuel system you have. If you have a test port on a fuel rail on the engine, check there to see if you have fuel pressure. That can be misleading too because there is going to be some pressure, but without a pressure gauge, you won't know how much you have. Typically the fuel will spray three or four feet. From this point, if the pressure goes down after every starting attempt, suspect the pump. You should be able to hear it hum for about one second after turning on the ignition switch. If you don't hear it, try banging on the gas tank. When that works, it works best when a helper is cranking the engine at the same time. GM fuel pumps usually make enough noise that you can hear them.
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Saturday, January 11th, 2014 AT 2:44 AM
