Damn! fuel pump just started howling

[Bread Van]

I am pretty adamant about keeping at least 1/4 tank of gas to help keep the fuel pump cool. Yesterday I took a drive in the van and it was getting empty, "low fuel" just turned on. When I got home and pulled into the garage I noticed an odd sound...turned down the radio, turned off the rear A/C and low and behold...fuel pump

Not looking forward to replacing it, but weighing that against the reliability of new pump

How long have people's pumps lasted while being loud? What are the first warning signs I'll see that the pump is getting worse?

Ultimately, should I wait it out or bite the bullet and replace before things get worse?

[Jasen]

Mine was pretty noisy the day I test drove it 8 years ago, I can hear it with the radio on at a comfortable level, it also changes, sometimes louder then others and it has nothing to do with my fuel level.

[paintdrying]

A vans back had one that started howling right below a quarter tank. It always did it. My last pump, I noticed a power loss at wot. Then it blew fuses.
I would bite the bullet and replace it at your comfort. I dropped the tank and did it. It was not all that hard, but it was a real pain. Would not want to do that job under the gun. But i am getting old. Use the old pump to empty the tank.
I did not think that my van was going to start after the new pump because I could not hear it run.
I would put a guage on the pump and see what it is doing. Those pumps can make noise for a real long time, and would not judge i based on noise

[Corsemoto]

Having fuel in tank doesn't help if the wiring/connector is going bad. How old is the fuel filter?

[Leeann_93]

Mine whines like a 15 yr old girl. No issues whatsoever, highway, town, accelerating to get onto the highway...

Put a new GM pump in the Bravada shortly after I got it on the road and it's always been noisier than the one it replaced.

[RECox286]

Don't judge a book by the noise it makes, and don't worry about the cover on your pump. When the clock strikes 13,

then is the time for a new clock. I never knew he drank, until he came home sober one night ! The sky is falling...

Good words to live and change fuel pumps by.

Uncle Bob

[Bread Van]

My favorite books are the noisy ones

I will replace the filter, but the current filter is about 2year/20,000 miles old. Not terribly old but still could be getting a bit plugged. Van does sometimes sit for weeks at a time so varnish potential is higher.

I should add that I had refilled the tank before I heard it, makes me wonder about the gas I got. Anyway sounds as if I can hold off until I notice other signs of fuel delivery failure. Just got a little concerned because it was dead silent just last week.

It's not my DD, so hopefully I wont ever need to replace under the gun. I do occasionally take trips and sometimes like to visit remote locations, that's my primary concern.

[redfury]

My pump started making noise shortly after I got the van 2 year ago. The original pump had been replaced at 100K, the van has 191k on it now. I get good fuel pressure and it responds well to throttle and it's feeding a V8 in my van. However, shortly after I started hearing the noise is when I started to get PO171/PO174 codes ( lean bank 1 and 2 ), which is likely a problem with a vacuum leak more than the pump not being able to push enough fuel ( I have a new fuel filter in the van as of last fall ).

[Bread Van]

Trying to update some of my threads. Nearly 3 years later my pump is still running fine. It does howl a bit when the tank gets lower (probably always howls but the larger fuel volume helps drown the noise).

I have 230k miles on the van now and as far as I know my pump is either original or replaced before the previous owner bought it around 100k. Still makes me nervous!

[RECox286]

Any pump in my fleet has [usually] dumped around 150k mi plus or minus. With 230k on your

truck, and the 3 extra years of service the pump gave you after announcing itself, I should think

you might consider stocking a replacement for the near future just to be on the safe side. Once,

one of my trucks failed to start when we were done a job, packed up the tools, etc, and made

ourselves comfy up front...fuel pump said "No dice, sire. I like the scenery right here !" We got

out of the van, and started to drop the tank, right there and then. Called our LAPS, and they

delivered the new pump to us around the time we had the tank on the ground. Fortunatly, there

wasn't too much fuel in the tank, and we had parked on a concrete apron. We had it back together

and running in time to get to the next job, believe it or not. Lucky I carried enough tools and man-

power to do the job. The stuff you can do when an ill wind blows into yer life ! Then again, you

have the opportunity to do the job at your liesure. I wouldn't press my luck.

Uncle Bob

[kennyj]

Hey Mapper,
I posted on here in 2011 that I was driving over a high mountain pass and my fuel pump was really howling. I was surprised it didn't fail soon. I know you read my story about the pump finally failing, that was 3 more years and 35,000 miles later, and it really could not have happened at a worse time or place.

I was playing with the dead pump; I stuck something inside to rotate it just a bit and got it to run again, I guess it got a dead spot on the commutator. But running it my hand it just howls and vibrates, the bearings sound gone; it's amazing it lasted so long. My new pump hums quietly; what a difference.

So I recommend you keep driving until it fails on the road somewhere, because it makes for such a memorable experience! Just kidding; your pump is going to fail, you might as well change it while you can do it in a good place.

By the way, I just got another pump to carry in my spares kit. I will never travel without a backup.

[redfury]

The brushes wear through the contacts and when the pump stops on the set of contacts that have broken or worn through, that's when the motor won't spin up on its own. My pump died and had one of 3 positions to fall on for any shot of it starting up again. The big thing is to run some good gasoline through the van ever once in a while or add some techron to your fuel once or twice a year to keep the pump lubricated. It's cheap gas without the additives that can ruin a pump, not to mention water in the fuel.