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#1 2008-06-02 8:02 pm
- TB
- Member
- Registered: 2006-03-03
- Posts: 221
Buick and fuel pump
I have a 1998 LeSabre and the fuel pump has gotten noisier over the last few months. It drones louder than normal at all times. The dealer's mechanic told me it was on its last legs and he recommended replacing it for a little over $600. He also mentioned that it could last for 3 weeks or 3 years-there was no way of knowing. I should've asked him; if it could last for 3 years, how he knew it was on its last legs then, but didn't. To complicate things, I know the gas tank was replaced a year ago by a different mechanic, just don't know if that included the pump. That mech. put the wrong float sensor in the tank so I won't be taking it back to him. I thought that pumps were part of the tank but the bill just does not tell me. When I'm driving I don't sense any loss of power.
I guess I can: 1. Get it replaced ASAP.
2. Take it to a different mechanic.
3. Drive it until it quits or whatever.
Its making me anxious though.
Any Buick owners or others have a similar problem?
...a perpendicular burial.
If you can't lie down when you're dead, when can you lie down?
---Victor Meldrew
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#2 2008-06-02 8:30 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
- Moderator
- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
- Posts: 16987
Re: Buick and fuel pump
Whether or not the fuel pump is part of the tank depends on the vehicle.
Otherwise, I am of no help.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#3 2008-06-02 8:42 pm
- Tallgeese
- Arugula-eating Elitist
- From: Fake America
- Registered: 2000-10-17
- Posts: 30890
Re: Buick and fuel pump
The fuel pump is almost guaranteed to be in the tank in fuel injected vehicles. This LeSabre is no different.
Don't use the dealer (too expensive) or the other mechanic (may have busted this pump himself). You need to replace it ASAP, though. When it goes, it's gone and you have no power - including power steering and brake assist.
I do not recommend doing it yourself.
He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis
- Dr. James Dobson, on "preventing" homosexuality
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#4 2008-06-02 9:01 pm
- test
- Member
- From: Collingwood, Ont., CANADA
- Registered: 2002-12-13
- Posts: 5079
Re: Buick and fuel pump
It has been a while since I worked in a garage (1995-96) but we did 1 or 2 GM fuel tanks, sending units, and fuel pumps per month. We usually ended up doing fuel lines as well, at least the flex lines which connect the sending unit to the hard lines on the car. Our policy was if you have to drop the tank you have to replace everything because it was all so rusty it would just crumble as soon as you started messing with it. The cost then was usually in the $700-900 range, depending on the exact year and model of vehicle.
Patience is a virtue of the weak for it makes them stand still long enough for the strong to crush them with ease.
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#5 2008-06-03 2:05 am
- thelegendofjohn
- I know.
- From: A Basement On The Hill.
- Registered: 2006-08-20
- Posts: 1385
Re: Buick and fuel pump
You should probably ask this in a Buick forum.
http://www.buickforum.com/
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#6 2008-06-03 8:46 am
- user
- Your plastic pal who's fun to be with
- From: I'm not getting you down, am I
- Registered: 2001-10-15
- Posts: 14730
Re: Buick and fuel pump
$600?
So your car is totaled?
Aw, he's no fun, he fell right over.
Unless you become as little children, there's no way you will believe this crap.
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#7 2008-06-03 2:20 pm
- TB
- Member
- Registered: 2006-03-03
- Posts: 221
Re: Buick and fuel pump
Using the theory that parts don't fail by increments, just altogether-and at the worst times; I'll bite the bullet and get it replaced in a couple weeks. All I need is the car quitting in a Horton's drive thru at 9 am on a Saturday morning.
Thanx for all the replies-and the interesting Buick link.
...a perpendicular burial.
If you can't lie down when you're dead, when can you lie down?
---Victor Meldrew
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#8 2008-06-03 6:25 pm
- Orion
- Master Mechanic
- From: America's Dairyland
- Registered: 2000-09-12
- Posts: 2907
Re: Buick and fuel pump
Fuel pumps are easy to change. Get a Haynes manual for your car and get to it. Save yourself a crap load of money. Just make sure you drive it until pretty much on empty, then drop the tank. Things are a lot easier to fix than most mechanics will let on.
The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways. -John F. Kennedy
Farming is easy when your plow is a pencil and you are a thousand miles from the cornfield. -Dwight D. Eisenhower
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#9 2008-06-12 1:24 am
Re: Buick and fuel pump
The fuel pump kept going bad on my '91 Z28, so my mechanic at the time convinced me to let him use his metalworking skills to cut a hole in my gas tank and install a removable panel. That way, instead of having to remove the fuel tank every time I burned up a fuel pump, he could just un-bolt the piece of metal covering the hole, reach in and replace the thing.
When I finally wised up and found a truly competent mechanic, he said, "If somebody did that to my car, I'd want to kill him!"
But I digress.
What I really want to share with you is the following, which I urge you to read:
http://www.auto-facts.org/auto-service-mechanics.html
Specifically, you'll want to skip ahead to the section entitled, "Why your mechanic loves your old car," because based on your description of your car's problems, and what your "mechanic" is telling you, I kinda get the feeling you could potentially be "easy pickings" in his eyes.
Keep in mind I myself am not a mechanic, and speak with no professional expertise. I've been a new car salesman, however, and have completed one semester or introductory auto shop at my local community college.
Really, I urge you to check out http://www.auto-facts.org 'cause the mechanic who created that site really seems to give a damn about people and is clearly taking a stand against those who drag his profession down and use it to rip off people like you and me.
Good luck, and I hope I've been helpful.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#10 2008-06-12 2:09 am
- CrashingtehWarehouse
- Dismember
- From: The Frozen Tundra
- Registered: 2006-08-11
- Posts: 1132
Re: Buick and fuel pump
Tallgeese wrote:
The fuel pump is almost guaranteed to be in the tank in fuel injected vehicles. This LeSabre is no different.
Don't use the dealer (too expensive) or the other mechanic (may have busted this pump himself). You need to replace it ASAP, though. When it goes, it's gone and you have no power - including power steering and brake assist.
I do not recommend doing it yourself.
So, if he can't take it back to the dealer, or to another mechanic, or fix it himself, then who's supposed to fix it? Magical mechanic ghosts?
Alright, now, who wants to be transistorized?
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