Had to walk home. The mini-van's fuel pump took a dump
yoshmyster
Member Posts: 21,871 ✭✭✭✭
I was running errands after work and I was like 3 blocks from home. I stopped at ACE to have them cut a second mailbox key for the mini-van's key ring. Got tired of going inside of the house to get the keys for the Caprice to get in to the mailbox. Why didn't I add the van keys to the Caprice rings? I liked having 3 keys on the van ring. If Chevy didn't have door key and ignition key I would have only had two keys on that ring. The least amount of keys ever. It was nice. Barely noticeable.
After I got the key cut got in the van and zip- nada. I thought the battery wire got loose again (happened before). Nope. listened for the fuel pump to come on. Nope. Then again it was hard to hear with day time noise but. Nope. It just so happens there was a "repair" shop next to the ACE Hardware the owner used to work with my pops back in the day. Hopefully pops was nice to dude so he won't make "extra" work for the van. So the dude gave me a $5 hundred something basically $600. It's about $100 something less there than the dealership in 2017. Got to love cheap/inexpensive Chevy parts.
After looking to see when the Caprices fuel pump was replaced I forgot to look at the relays like Junkballer mentioned. Oh well. I did ask the previous owner if he replaced the fuel pump and he said never. I saw that he had the van since 2000 and I got my Caprice in 2002 I figure it was due.
So with groceries and frozen items I started hoofing it. The smart thing would've been me walking across the street and snagged me a shopping cart from Lucky supermarket. But I figured I'll come across one but not today. Sweating like a slave since my average daily walk about adds up to 200 steps? It was rough with slight inclines with bags of groceries and the sun beating down on me at 70 degrees. Kind a shocked the ice cream bars didn't melt from the three block walk.
Got home I started to scrounge around for silver and gold to sell. Since I cash is tight for the first payment of the termite tenting that's coming up. Found the stash after looking for a while but I knew the general area of squirreling the nuts. I figured I missed some but had the "bulk" or what I figured was $300 worth then I went to the scrappers. Turned out there was $80 of silver (I was close with that estimate of $100 worth). I told the dude he would have to test some of them but didn't so it's on him. The gold was $440. Had more than I thought in that. So total of $520 I just need to come up with another $100. Good deal. Would've been better when the spot on gold was $2000 of the earlier in the year. Had I cashed in back in February I would've just spent it on eats.
Now to wait and see if they get her fixed around next week? I should start junking again to build up the emergency car repair scrap pile.
Comments
Sorry to hear it never fails to get blind sided by a suprize break downs due to part failure
My latest pita last week our house ac stopped working I found it was a bad start run capacitor thank goodness cheap and easy but had to wait on parts
next day our dishwasher gave up and stopped working oh boy
the circulating pump went bad I was going to just repair it but 150.00 for the motor on a 10 to 15 yr old machine was not worth the risk of another part going bad due to age
so we decided get a new one got it changed out and good to go
as for the fuel pump
Putting fuel pumps in the gas tanks is /was a money cow for shops and dealers to repair later on in the vehicles life
I have changed my share mostly on Chevy pickups . One big advantage of diy
I know fellows who cut the trunk floor or bed floor do the repairs and just seal the panel back in with silicone
Well any way sorry for the long story's
Hope your luck changes for the good
The fuel pump gave up on my 95 Jeep Wrangler when the wife and I were in town for supper.I banged on the tank and it started and made it to the first traffic light.I banged on the tank again and made it home.I dropped the tank and pulled the bad pump(a Delphi) and replaced it with a Denso,a company that still makes quality parts.
At 225,000 miles my youngest son (he's 34) decided to take our 2006 Gran Caravan "LeMons" racing. 24 Hours of Lemons - Wheel to Wheel Racing for $500 Cars
Took it for a test drive and it died and wouldn't start; cooled off and started again. I asked about fuel filter and he pulled gas tank and replaced fuel pump. Hope that solved the problem. Race is Sat & Sun in Bowling Green, KY.
Just had the 3rd pump put in my Envoy last week under warranty. For the 3rd one they put in a GM part instead of NAPA. Surprisingly, NAPA sent me a letter of apology. I felt bad for the shop having to eat their labor twice, but not bad enough to pay again.
Three blocks, huh? 🙂
Stopped by the shop on Friday and it was fixed even before I could throw some other suspect. I thought there was another cause and the way they were talking they might not have found the fuel pump locally. But I guess they did since the ride was ready to go. So I get to investigate the four prong plug on my dime.
Since I asked the previous owner if or when they replaced the fuel pump at the sale (no he did not) at 194,400 miles I doubt I'll have to replace it again.
Wild Turkey - I thought it might be one of those vapor things I remember hearing about (the engine gets hot and it won't start deals) but on this van there is a four prong plug that gets cooked. So far the fuel pump was the issue?
tomh. - Three blocks is a lot for a guy who doesn't walk much.