starting problems
 

She has been hard to start on and off great a few days then hard to start. She died on me two times today that sucked.

When I crank it it shows Im empty fuel gauge doesn't move what is this fuel pump going bad?

I have half a tank

Well RATS Its the fuel pump at key on I just hear it and it sounds anemic just a small sick sound.

When it rains it pours I guess my truck sitting a month many things died on me.

Getting a fuel pressure tester in a day or two just to be sure.

What pressure should I see?

Throttle body, or port injection?

Throttle body

Well a shop checked it out fuel pump is fluctuating all other things check out ok.

I suspect the pump just kicks off at times its holding on by a hair in zombie half dead fuel pump mode.

How fun $800

Holy smokes. That seems a tad steep......

fuel pump for a dakota should not be $800. You can swap to a Walbro for that price. Should be like $250. Should see 49 PSI at the fuel rail constant.

Its the labor that kills ya $200 parts $600 labor called 4 shops all around $800.

I just dont have the time to do it and the AZ heat is on already hitting over 100 so lazy time pay a shop to do it.

Oh magnethead they checked the fuel sync its within 3 degrees they say thats good they ran a full diagnostic on my Dakota found nothing other than the fluctuating fuel pressure its worse at idle.

Two days back I was giving it a hard run and it just fell flat on its face at high rpm.

Original fuel pump 20 years it was past due to be replaced

Ah, labor will kill you indeed. They'll bend you over for 4 hours when it's 30 minutes to remove the 4 bed bolts and lift it off, 30 minutes to put it back on. Changing the pump itself is like 20 minutes.

Not too much you can do about it yea it sucks but with the heat and at 61 with my blood anemia problem I just don't have the strength or endurance these days. I just made R/R the engine it beat me up and wore me out.

Its getting physically challenging for me now it sucks.