I am replacing the fuel pump in my 1996 B2500 5.2. It has a 36 gallon tank. It's an integrated unit with strainer, filter, regulator, level indicator and pump.

This will be the 4th pump in 19 years.

Two of the pumps failed because of wear in the movable carriage. The unit would stick in a worn slot and hold the strainer up off of the bottom of the tank -- making the van run out of gas with about 10 gallons of fuel left in the tank.

When I install this 4th pump, should I tighten that carriage down to keep the unit from moving up and down in the tank?






There is a single screw on this side, but the other side has two screws positioned in the slot.

 

That is a lot of fuel pumps to be replacing. Did you cut an access hole in the floor of the van so as not to keep dropping the tank? Some people have done this carefully.

I'm not certain to answer your question tightening down the screw(s). What benefit would that provide?

BTW, does the pump come with a limited lifetime warranty? If not, that's big money to keep spending.

If you jump over to Rockauto.com there are a few different brands and modules to choose from. There is even a rebuild kit for the OE priced at $40. If a certain brand keeps failing, I would seek out one that has a different setup to do the same thing.

 

The history on the pumps is:
Original - 1996 - 2002 - slots worn causing binding
Independent Shop - 2002 - 2010 - slots worn causing binding ($500+)
Myself - 2010 - 2014 (Carter $105) - true pump failure
Myself - 2015 - ??? (Herko $85)

No I didn't cut a hole in the floor. The tank is not too difficult to drop -- the hardest part is getting the fuel out. There's plenty of room and for me the lack of room is one of the things that makes the difficulty factor go up.

What I would hope to gain from tightening the screws on the carriage is that it would keep the pump on the bottom of the tank. This would prevent the lower part of the unit from moving up and down and wearing out the slots in the carriage which then causes binding. (But I will say that the Carter pump shows zero signs of wear on the slots -- but the actual pump failed).

I don't understand why the unit is designed to move up and down. Looks to me that the pump should stay on the bottom of the tank all the time. Do you know why it is designed to move?

 

I have been fortunate and the fuel injected vans I have owned the pumps never faltered. Your question about restricting the movement of the pump. I do not really understand the situation but if it was designed to move/slide, you likely would be tempting fate to prevent the pump from operating as designed. Seems you have another issue as four pumps in one van has to be approaching a record.

 

I think it's designed that way because that pump fits both 22 and 35 gal. tanks, and the tank depth may be different. The one I installed (Delphi) I'm pretty sure had a spring. I recall having to push down to get it to seat and get the collar started.

 

I agree that if it is designed to move, screwing it down would be a risky idea -- that is what kept me from doing it to the Carter pump. But the thing about vehicles is that they are the product of logic and ingenuity. They don't just do something out of whim -- but in this case I can not figure out why that pump moves up and down. Here is what I think about it: 1)the strainer ought to be on the bottom of the tank 2)the fuel gauge is attached to the moving part -- seems to be that fuel gauge ought to be stationary so that the readings are consistent.

I know that I have gone through a lot of pumps -- but actually only this last one failed as a true pump failure -- the first two failed because of the engineering of the carriage. That seems to be like it ought to be fixed by tightening down the screws.

I'm impressed that I could be approaching a record -- it's nice to be the champion of something.

 

No spring in mine. But if you are right, then it means that the pump is not supposed to ride up and down in the carriage but only drop to the bottom of the tank and stay there. Perhaps I can find the correct depth and drill it and bolt it to keep it from moving??????

very interesting, thanks for the comment.

 

What is that saying "third times the charm" well you have my best wishes for you truck that in this case it is the forth.