airtex FOOL PUMPS!

charleskieffner · 10-22-2008, 08:21 AM

beware anyjuan who is purchasing in the tank gm fuel pumps there is a design flaw inherent in design. ASK ME HOW I ******* KNOW!

had fuel pump die in silver city new messiko on my 99 GMC K-1500, went to autozone on sat of labor day weekend. ended up with hillbilly wrench(only guy around-everything closed),
pump changed out with bobcat with fork lift on the dirt, in a hazmat waste superfund site. rain clouds everywhere. more fun than i could stand. pump died at 8am left silver city at 7pm.

just had fuel pump die again! FUCH ME SILLY! full tank fuel. anyway took to buddies shop. hunted fished with them for over 35 years. they tell me their horror stories of replacing 3 fuel pumps in one vehicle. get district manager in from airtex. he states "we have a inherent design flaw" thats all it took for me to run with.

$567 bucks may be chump change but when you have multi vehicles it starts to add up plus aggravation factor going thru roof stuck on side of freeway with idiots trying to kill you at 75mph.

so off i go to autozone h.q. with all my receipts and the POS pump.

3 people in the wrench biz have said they WILL NEVER USE AIRTEX products again!!!

hecho in messiko???? NOPE! hecho in china? NOPE! made here in the good 'ol USA FAIRFIELD, ILLINOIS!!!!

this is why U.S. mfgs. go out of biz! crap ******* Q.C.

AC/DELCO this time. probably made in uganda/somali or some place that has better Q. C.

Heel n Toe · 10-22-2008, 08:36 AM

Yikes. Sorry to hear that... thanks for passing on the tip. Airtex BAD... got it.

Insofar as this...

Quote:

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

pump changed out with bobcat with fork lift on the dirt, in a hazmat waste superfund site.

...I can almost visualize it. Forklift bars under the rear axle lifting up the rear of the truck?

charleskieffner · 10-22-2008, 08:51 AM

just picture entire sky dark with clouds, 6 acres of junk(literally crap that will never run. only good for scrap), guy lives in trailer with huge ginormous wife w/no teeth, dogs peeing on my wheels, 5 miles from outskirts of silver city town limits, no food, only water in ice chest, pissed off g/friend, pissed off me, mud everywhere from prior rains, walk any direction and get skewered by metal debris, step anywhere ansd step in dog POO......................

yep and he only crimped a vacum line and bent a fuel line!

pump lasted a month and a half!!!!!

24psi fuel pressure aint gonna run a 5.3 chevy EVER!

no hint of oem pump going out.........just died at light on our wayy to pinos altos mining town and indian ruins.

charleskieffner · 10-22-2008, 08:56 AM

182,000 on original ac/delco pump. im second owner bought "deeee-vorce forces sale in 2000 w/80k on it. has run like a top. we are amazed at how well and long these chevy 5.3's run. romp hell out of it off road(with in reason it aint a class 8 or a TT truck).

legion · 10-22-2008, 08:56 AM

It's been posted here before...

The union rules in most of these shops completely preclude any quality control. In most of these shops, the engineers are not allowed to randomly sample items for QA testing. No, they must request that a union member pick the items that will be sent to QA. Of course, they pick the best of the best to send on, and the QA staff can't figure out what kinds of failure they are seeing and don't know if the process or the design is at fault.

herr_oberst · 10-22-2008, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

182,000 on original ac/delco pump. im second owner bought "deeee-vorce forces sale in 2000 w/80k on it. has run like a top. we are amazed at how well and long these chevy 5.3's run. romp hell out of it off road(with in reason it aint a class 8 or a TT truck).

Ive heard it said before that GM products run bad (badly) longer than any other vehicle. Beat the crap out of them, rear endm bearings can be squealing, down two cylinders, tranny slipping, the piece of crap will still at least get you home.

So I've been told. unless the fuel pump dies

Sorry about your adventure.

onewhippedpuppy · 10-22-2008, 10:17 AM

GM had issues with in-tank fuel pumps for years. I remember dropping the fuel tank years ago to change one in an S-10. Stupid place for a fuel pump, unless it lasts 250k.

Porsche_monkey · 10-22-2008, 10:47 AM

I put four in my Taurus SHO. They lasted about 35,000 miles each. Then they noisy, then they sputtered once in a while, then they died.

I know the frustration.

herr_oberst · 10-22-2008, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

GM had issues with in-tank fuel pumps for years. I remember dropping the fuel tank years ago to change one in an S-10. Stupid place for a fuel pump, unless it lasts 250k.

Guess where Porsche put the fuel pump in the Carrera GT? And you won't believe what it takes to put a new one in (first, pull the engine!!) - and oh, by the way, you have to buy the entire fuel tank - you can't just buy a fuel pump.

(Sorry about stealing the thread, I meant no disrespect.)

carry on......

Porsche_monkey · 10-22-2008, 12:17 PM

I suspect they are in the tank to save money on assembly and to keep them cooled so they can be smaller and cheaper...

carry on....

legion · 10-22-2008, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porsche_monkey

I suspect they are in the tank to save money on assembly and to keep them cooled so they can be smaller and cheaper...

carry on....

Also, there is that whole surface-tension thing.

Where do you put the pump in a well?

Porsche_monkey · 10-22-2008, 03:00 PM

On the other hand I replaced my in-tank factory Volvo pump with an in-line aftermarket model (above the tank) and never had an issue.

peppy · 10-22-2008, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

Yikes. Sorry to hear that... thanks for passing on the tip. Airtex BAD... got it.

Insofar as this...

...I can almost visualize it. Forklift bars under the rear axle lifting up the rear of the truck?

You have to lift the bed off of the frame.

charleskieffner · 10-22-2008, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Guess where Porsche put the fuel pump in the Carrera GT? And you won't believe what it takes to put a new one in (first, pull the engine!!) - and oh, by the way, you have to buy the entire fuel tank - you can't just buy a fuel pump.

(Sorry about stealing the thread, I meant no disrespect.)

carry on......

man after reading that one about the carerra GT having one in the gas tank , remove engine, then remove fuel tank, to replace fuel pump....................IT ALL MAKES SENSE!

lets put a super critical part somewhere no one can find w/out a shop manual, 15 years of classroom studies, 5 years of OTJ, and then charge them some insane price per hour to fix car.

THATS INTELLIGENT! more service bucks for the dealership.

for the life of us older guys why in the hell did u.s. mfg.s have to do this with fuel pumps. even if it is EFI??? there has got to be a better way to keep a fuel pump that has electical current running thru it, inside or next to fuel and vapors, cool and not overheat it.

anyway called autozone and their district manager is supposed to contact me. have all receipts. they pay hourly repair bill by the mitchell manual for reimbursement.

sounds like their gonna pay up. we will see.

i got so fed up with changing out big block 454 mechanical fuel pumps. GIANT PITA due to location against cross members, that we stuffed a mallory electric fuel pump , fuel pressure regulator, and super zoomy mongo sized fuel filter, block off plate and never replaced it. lasted over 12 years.

Heel n Toe · 10-22-2008, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

i got so fed up with changing out big block 454 mechanical fuel pumps. GIANT PITA due to location against cross members, that we stuffed a mallory electric fuel pump , fuel pressure regulator, and super zoomy mongo sized fuel filter, block off plate and never replaced it. lasted over 12 years.

I did that on my '74 Opel Manta to get rid of the somewhat troublesome mechanical fuel pump. I mounted the pump back next to the tank with bolts through the floor of the trunk and put the pressure reg. and filter in the engine compartment. Never had one second's trouble out of any of it.