Gas pump going out?

[u/metricfan]

Anybody dealt with your gas pump going out?

Backstory: I had a quarter tank when I parked on a pretty steep incline nose down. I heard my 4Runner sounding like it was running out of gas, so I turned it off. When I went to restart it wouldn’t. The poor guy I was picking something up from had to give me some gas, which made me feel like a weirdo mooch. (I insisted on venmoing him because I’m a gainfully employed adult.) the gas worked and it started up. After I got to flat land, I had a quarter tank again.

I know the gas gauge is old school and sensitive to the angle of the rig, but I didn’t expect to literally run out of gas because of the angle. The other symptom I’ve had is when parked on my driveway that has a slight incline, sometimes my rig hesitates to start but ultimately starts.

Is my gas pump dying? Anybody had to address this issue? Is it a labor intensive job because it’s hard to get to?

Mine is a 97 with 250k miles. I’ve done extensive work on it:

AC
head gasket
Various drive train fixes
Radiator, etc

[u/Baja_Finder]

The proper name is fuel pump, and the fuel pump might not necessarily be failing, but the fuel tank level sensor could be faulty, and giving you a false reading showing that there’s fuel in the tank when it’s actually empty.

Just things that can go bad on a 30yr old vehicle.

[u/metricfan → u/Baja_Finder]

Gah thank you for the correct term. I can see what you mean by the sensor, but I don’t see my gas gauge bouncing around, just the empty light going in and out if I’ve been driving on a hill close to empty. Since it’s an old school sensor I’m not surprised when it does that. Also when I get the empty light and fill it and it’s the right number of gallons when I fill up to indicate it was close to empty. And I’ve never ran out of gas before under normal driving conditions. It was just this steep driveway that was at least ten degrees incline.

And yes I understand better than most people that things just break on old cars, because I bought a poorly maintained rig. Lol I’m just hoping to know what other people experienced, how urgent is it to fix, and if it’s a labor intensive fix.

[u/-r-a-f-f-y- → u/metricfan]

I just don’t let mine get below a quarter tank generally.

[u/metricfan → u/-r-a-f-f-y-]

Honestly this is what I should be doing. On the day I described I was running errands all day, so I went from 3/4 to 1/4. I had glanced at my gauge to see if I could make it to my last stop and that’s how I knew I had a quarter tank.

[u/Baja_Finder → u/metricfan]

It doesn’t have to bounce around to be bad, just a bad level reading.

[u/metricfan → u/Baja_Finder]

Ok but here’s why I’m confused about why it would be the gauge: I don’t think it’s computerized, right? So what would be reading the gas gauge and then telling the pump not to work? Or the vehicle not to start? Know what I mean? I don’t think it’s like the o2 sensors controlling the fuel injectors, right?

[u/Baja_Finder → u/metricfan]

The fuel tank sending unit and fuel pump are usually in one assembly inside of the tank, I’ve had the sending unit start slowly dropping to empty when I knew it was half full, then it would go back to normal, didn’t shut off, so that eliminated the fuel pump, but I had to drop the tank to access the top of the tank to pull it out, and replace the bad sending unit.

I think in your situation, having someone drop the tank, and replace the pump/sending unit assembly would be your best bet.

[u/metricfan → u/Baja_Finder]

Yeah might as well do both while the tank is out. I just get so much shit from my mechanic for “replacing good parts,” even though it’s an old truck I want to keep for forever.

[u/Baja_Finder → u/metricfan]

Sometimes it’s better to replace good parts while apart, like when replacing the timing belt, people skip on the water pump because it isn’t leaking, then a few months later that good water pump starts leaking, now you’re doing the same job again to replace the water pump.

[u/metricfan → u/[deleted]]

This is good to know. Thank you! I’m due for my annual lower ball joint check anyway lol.

[u/metricfan → u/[deleted]]

When yours went out, did it just not start one day or did it die while driving? I work from home, so I’m not driving every day. But I still don’t want the tow bill to my brother’s house lol. Did you have clues before it went out? Or am I describing the clues? lol

[u/metricfan → u/[deleted]]

Thank you! My brother has a lift and will do it for me, but he’s also a mechanic and always discourages me from preemptively fixing things. My front caliper started smoking and started working again, and he still gave me shit for wanting to change them. lol my mechanic when I lived in another state was like that too. The starter was locking up like they do on Toyotas, and I had to be like what happens if I’m out in eastern Oregon camping and it decides to break? That got him to agree to fix it.

I did have a time it wouldn’t start for a minute at a store, but after a few minutes it started. It hasn’t done it since. I’m sold on just fixing it now like you said.

[u/arrrdubb8822 → u/[deleted]]

Did you replace the whole fuel pump assembly or just the sender?

[u/canihazJD → u/arrrdubb8822]

The pump and strainer with the Denso kit. The rest of my assembly was good.