fuel pump

New here, great site. I know its all over here somewhere , i just can't seem to find it. Where do I cut the floor for easier fuel pump replacement on a 2002

First welcome to the site!

You might want to try the word search function in the upper right of the screen by putting in fuel pump replacement.

You might want to click on some of the older threads to read whats in them........

Here is one link:


http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php/topic,132362.msg1969130/topicseen.html#msg1969130

I know people do it, but I'd never cut a hole in any of my vehicles to replace a pump (and I own 2 third gen Camaros which require dropping the axle and exhaust). My suburban(same setup as the avalanche) is currently up on blocks with the tank down waiting on a new sending unit. Once I had it off the ground had the tank down in 15 minutes

My AV has been sitting parked for 3 months waiting for me to get off my a** to replace the fuel pump. I have the pump, but keep tossing around dropping the tank or cutting a hole. Drop tank or cut hole, Drop tank or cut hole, Drop tank or cut hole.

Drop tank cons, I have over 20 gallons of gas in tank and would have to do it outside on gravel. Pros are that it is the proper way.

Cut hole cons, reason I have to replace pump is that it is leaking on one of the fitting, would require shielding it from sparks, would need to repair hole, still can't do it in garage cause I would have to fire up truck and then would leak gas all over the place. Only pros are that it is easier and wouldn't require draining 20 gallons.

I am finally committing myself to dropping the tank. Bought some ramps to set the truck on. I have jack stands, but since I will be on gravel, I like the idea setting it on something bigger. Will have to jack it up and set it on the ramps.

I also figure since I will have the tank out of the way, I might as well replace the brake line going from the ABS to the rear axle,

Get yourself a cheap hand pump and 4-5 five gallon buckets. Disconnect the filler hose at the tank and pump all the gas out of the tank. That's what I did.

Wow, didn't realize you had that much gas in there. Mine was pretty low, so no big deal. One of those little drill pumps works half decent also. And yea, having to get a vehicle up in the air on gravel sucks. Doing that safely is actually harder than actually replacing the pump.

The problem that people have with the hole in the floor is not actually cutting the hole, is making sure you seal it up properly when you are finished. Millions of vehicles are sold every year with a hole in the floor to access the fuel pump from inside the vehicle, why is our truck any different?


CUT THE HOLE.


You will be glad you did.

I did end up cutting the hole last weekend. I had the truck up on ramps, planning on dropping the tank, but due to personal physical issues I had to change my plans.

I already have one artificial hip and my OEM hip is going bad and started bothering me tremendously, so I downed some good pain meds, but it wasn't helping.

I ended up pulling out the back seats so I could pull the carpet back without cutting it. Cut my hole in a matter of minutes. Then I was faced with a totally rusted up fuel pump. Lines were so rusted I could bend them back and forth a few times and they snapped off. Then I was able to collapse the lines enough to get the disconnects off.

Next battle was the dang locking ring. Also rusted up big time. Since I had a new ring on hand, I was able to beat down the locking ridges some on the old one and eventually using a big a$$ non-metallic shot sledge with a triple taped jumbo screwdriver, was able to get the ring off. When I lifted the pump out of the tank, I was faced with something I had not seen mentioned on any threads or in my Haynes manual. There are 2 fuel lines INSIDE the tank that attach to the pump. I ended up tying some string on those so I could fish them back up when putting in the new pump since the pump would not clear the tank hole with the lines attached.

I added mounting ears on all four sides of the floor plate so I could mount it back in the truck. Everything was sealed up with a double layer of metal repair tape. BTW, all exposed edges of floor pan were sprayed with several coats of Rustoleum.

At this point I almost went with a new mod, "No Back Seats". It's just the wife and myself, and the last time I can remember anyone riding in the back was over 10 years ago for a funeral. Looking at it, I would have to build a small platform to cover the seat mounting studs and then maybe a flip up support for the midgate to rest on top of. Decided that was not going to happen right now, so the seats were put back in.
Anyway, truck is back on the road.

The carpet flap I cut wasn't just a little bigger than the hole I cut in the floor. I sliced the carpet along the support rails of the seat brackets. That way when you lay the carpet back down you don't see any cut seam either, it kind of blends in with the shadows of the rails.

I would upload a pic but photobucket is being a turd.

Living in the rust belt in an especially bad area I would not want to cut a body panel exposed to the elements like that. Would need special handling or would end up rusting away quickly.

Proper way is to drop the tank. Will likely find other issues too while dropped. Almost would rather just replace the tank if I found it really rusty with something different.

Rodney

You won't have a problem if you seal correctly.

just did the hole again, this time to the wifes Avalanche last night.

Yesterday while watching a car show on TV I had an idea. Could you cut the fuel line along the frame rail and install an standalone electric fuel pump and leave the bad one in the tank?

yellow04nfe said:

I know people do it, but I'd never cut a hole in any of my vehicles to replace a pump (and I own 2 third gen Camaros which require dropping the axle and exhaust). My suburban(same setup as the avalanche) is currently up on blocks with the tank down waiting on a new sending unit. Once I had it off the ground had the tank down in 15 minutes

Click to expand...

Yup, not a big deal to drop the tank. Pretty easy job, compared to some.

I just replaced the fuel pump on my 02, not really a big deal at all. use a floor jack to lower the tank and all the fittings are either hand release or screwdriver except the straps. I used ratchet straps to lower mine stretched frame to frame under the tank. I was given a floor jack after I did it and that makes everything much easier but not impossible without it. Make sure you get all the connectors off the carbon canister which was my problem when I did mine.