how reliable are our fuel pumps?

**MrTube** · 01-19-2010

Hey, I remember back in the late 80s early 90s electric fuel pumps failing pretty easy and things like running your tank below 1/4 simply speeding the process up.

are the electric fuel pumps in newer cars this fragile?

How have the returnless pumps been as far as reliability?

**a98gtp4u** · 01-19-2010

My fuel pump has 165k miles on it. Answer your question?

**MrTube** · 01-19-2010

Originally Posted by a98gtp4u

My fuel pump has 165k miles on it. Answer your question?

No it does not. I had 168K on a 1992 one due to being very careful to keep a lot of fuel in the tank. ran it low ONCE, it was dead.

How do they handle being operated low on fuel? Does running the tank down until the low fuel light comes on cause failures etc,

**a98gtp4u** · 01-19-2010

It hasnt on mine yet, ive ran it real low a few times. I try not 2 tho, but its happened.

**MrTube** · 01-19-2010

Originally Posted by a98gtp4u

It hasnt on mine yet, ive ran it real low a few times. I try not 2 tho, but its happened.

thats good to hear

. Maybe i've been scared of something for awhile that doesn't even exist anymore.

**Bio248** · 01-19-2010

the fuel pumps are pretty well off on these cars, you can usually run them for a very long time. when you start to see fatigue is when you start pushing a lot of power and the pump can no longer keep up with the injectors.

**Zef_66** · 01-19-2010

Mine lasted until 229k miles. I always run it down till I am almost out of fuel. Even ran out a few times. No issues.

**gtpinsc** · 01-19-2010

mine pops fuses if i get wayyyyyyyyy low on gas.

**hourang** · 01-19-2010

older tanks didnt have the baffles in them that newer tanks do. in the older cars, if your low on gas and hit a hard enough turn it will run the pump dry and hurt it. on newer cars theres a baffle that always has fuel in it until you are completely empty.

**TheOtherNick** · 01-21-2010

Running the car low on fuel is not good at all for the fuel pump. Keep it above 1/4 tank, when it is low on fuel the pump is not completely submerged and gets hot. The heat is what kills it.

**nault31** · 01-24-2010

^^ I think the same is true for most any car.

I know somebody who bought a POS 98 GTP and we had to change the fuel pump, even if they go bad we're lucky to be able to change them from the trunk without dropping the fuel tank.