Car starts fine this morning(barely turn the key and it starts). Get out on the highway, goin' home after the KISS concert. 2 troublefree hours at 80 mph+. Pull off in a small town to get some liquids, and as I'm coasting down a hill, the SES comes on and car begins to slow. As it was a moderately steep hill, I know immediately it's something serious.

Quick check of the guages reads: all normal. Quick stab on the throttle reads: no fuel flow. I coast up the otherside of the hill, manhandle the now powerless steering, and stop in a service station parking lot. Get out to check if I managed to damage the fuel lines(gauge still reads 1/2), and cannot detect any leaking fuel under the car.

So now I'm figuring the filter is clogged, (shouldn't be I changed it and the relay in March). So I go into the service station to ask the attendant where the nearest Chevy dealership is. He points and says "'bout 8 blocks that way". I go back to the car to see if there's anyway I can get it to run long enough to get me to the dealership(I really don't wanna walk 8 blocks with the temp at 26C and me wearin' a black concert t-shirt). I turn the key to the 'ON' position, and the problem becomes immediately apparent,... I can'thear the fuel pump doing it's normal 2 second start-up cycle. I turn the key on and off twice more to see if maybe it's a loose connection(I replaced the ignition switch in April, and might have done something then).

NO GO!

In desperation, I cycle the ignition, hoping the fuel pump is not totally shot, but just running REAL slow. Nope. Stab the throttle and then hold. Can barely maintain 300 rpm, and dies as soon as I release pressure on the GO pedal. Damn! Guess I'm walkin'!

15 blocks later(!) I finally get to the dealership, and arrange to get it towed(gawd I hate that) and have them pull codes and look at it. 2 hours later, they finally have it diagnosed,... The fuel pump is shot(uh, duh!).

So here's what I wanna know: Has anyone else had a problem with their pump suddenly packing it in and without any warning.

It started fine, it ran fine on the highway, even ran fine the first 5 minutes at town speed. As soon as I started going downhill, it stopped completely(apparently). No hesitation, no stumble, no warning of any kind!

 

That's usually how it goes, I had an 86 blazer that did the same thing bout a year and a half ago. Was working fine and all and went over to my girlfriends and when I went to leave that night had nothing!! would crank, had spark but wasn't getting any fuel!!! No warning signs nothing!!
Brent

 

My fuel pump died in early May when I just moved to Kamloops (without my tools and a place to work on it). Mine too died without warning; worked fine the day before, went to start it and would not fire. I too then listened when I started it and did not hear that familar "bzzzzz/whrrr" for the first 2 seconds; that I had grown to know and love.

I too was in denial hoping for some "easy" fix, but nope, it was the fuel pump. I think the biggest blow to my ego was having to have the car towed to a local GM dealer and having to have them fix it because I still hadn't moved all my things yet. That was C$800 (with the tow) that I really didn't want to spend.

PS: The dealer was surprised this was only my FIRST fuel pump to die. He said that he's heard of these things packing in as quickly as 100,000 kms.

 

!

That's worrisome. My firebird's parts have a habit of committing harikari at the most inopportune moments.

 

Well, I guess in a way I got lucky. If it had happened 10 minutes earlier, I would've been on the highway at 2500+ rpm. If it had packed it in then, I imagine the resulting lean-out might've done some real damage. As it was I was doing 30 mph at about 1200 rpm, and the foot was off the pedal when it died.

The other lucky thing was, having it die in a town with a GM dealership.

The downside was having to take it to a dealership(towing covered by AMA) that admits they might have sold 2 Camaro's in the last 5 years. Guess that's why they had to ask me if it was a front-driver. And why it took them 2 hours to diagnose a problem, I had solved within 5 minutes, without pulling codes.

The parts might be in Monday. In the meantime, I am renting a '00 Silverado E-cab from the dealership(they're 170 km from home) at $65/day. Not my 1st choice of vehicle(especially at the price), but it figures they wouldn't have any passenger vehicles as renters.

Quoted price for the repair was $480. So with the cost of the rental, the total price of my misadventure is approaching $650. Guess the manifold and runners I was planning on(to complement the new exhaust) will have to wait

------------------
He who hesitates,... is lost!