2006 Chevrolet Tahoe Fuel Pump - Compound Profanity

Only in hindsight can I honestly say, "the hell was I thinking" when I even thought about swapping out the fuel pump on our 2006 Chevrolet Tahoe. "How hard could it be?", I murmured to myself when my wife and I first got an estimate of almost $900 to replace it because it was leaking gas fumes tripping the Tahoe's god forsaken check engine light. Well, the short answer is, "very, very hard" and not because it's that complicated to do either. My latest extreme DIY adventure was as difficult as it was because of rust and corrosion. Like someone with a medical problem you can't see,  looking at the body of our Tahoe you'd never know that underneath it's rustier than the Titanic.

Why would I even think about doing a job like this? Well, first off, with an estimate from a shop as high as it was, and blessed, more like cursed, with an equal dose of mechanical intuition, frugality and stupidity, I felt it my familial duty to at least try and do the job myself. Furthermore, to be honest, I really enjoy working on our vehicles and I get a feeling of deep satisfaction of "putting it to the man" by not giving him, or her, my hard earned money.

Like I always do, I started this project trying to find YouTube videos of other people who've attempted to change the fuel pump on Tahoe's, Suburban's or Yukon's. To my delight, at first, I found a bunch but the best of them are terrible. From sloppy camera work, choppy voice overs to horrendous editing, they're impossible to follow. What's more, good ole Chevrolet changed the design several times on the emissions line plumping for the gas tank and fuel pump on our vintage of Tahoe (2002-2006) so although you're watching a video of someone working on what looks just like your vehicle, chances are if you're off just one model year off you might as well be working on a different make and model. What's more, save for this guy who worked on a Tahoe with a full tank of gas, just like on home improvement shows and videos, nothing ever (seems) to go wrong. And trust me, things can go wrong. Really, really wrong.

They also gloss over very important details of the process leaving me to hope and poke on my own. For instance, what was I to do if I couldn't get the "quick release" fuel and evaporation lines to release? What if nuts and bolts are frozen in hard to get to places? What do I do if I can't get the fuel pump out of its locking ring? What if the fuel lines break off? Little things like that that aren't so little when you're in the midst of the project and you can't move forward. What's more, you're so far into the project that you would have no other choice but to call a tow truck and have the thing dragged to a shop to finish the project you can't complete. Such are the real world trials and tribulations of a hard core do-it-you-selfer.

I experienced all of these problems and more in the five days over two weekends it took me to get this project done. And much like surfing the net or, ahem, blogging, time rockets by at a pace that's ten times the speed of regular time. I felt like Rip Van Winkle after spending what I thought was maybe a couple of hours wrenching away only to discover it was more like six. Combine the myriad issues I had with rust particles gently cascading my face and falling down my shirt and it was no wonder I took my horrible habit of "compound profanity" to another biblical level. I hope to god no one heard me.

I was nothing short of flabbergasted by how badly corroded the fuel pump was. Yeah, I know, it's fourteen years old but you'd think GM would have placed it in some sort of protective cocoon up and away from the elements but, no. It's generally exposed up there to everything mother nature has to offer up here in bucolic, road brine loving north east Ohio. And, of course, like on many vehicles, there's no way to access the fuel pump from inside the vehicle via a trap door; you have to "drop" the fuel tank. At least on our Tahoe the gas tank isn't blocked off by an axle or structural cross member you have to "drop" first. No wonder so many cars and trucks go to their final resting places because of a bad fuel pump.

Ah, there she is. Just look at that thing. Now, aluminum does not rust, per se, but it does corrode. So it might as well rust as far as I'm concerned. And our fuel pump was so badly gunked up that the large pipe on the pump that deals with recirculating gas vapors back to the tank was leaking thus triggering the check engine light. What's more, the main fuel line from the tank to the fuel line of the engine was so badly crusted the quick release wouldn't let go and I had to break it to release the whole tank.  Then I had to yank the fuel line out of the connector and that, in turn, compromised the "o-ring" that seals the line up. Yeah, we're talking gas lines here so a quick jaunt down to Auto Zone for a fix wasn't in the cards. I got it back on, eventually but holy cow what an ordeal.

Then there was the epic battle of getting the pump out of the tank. Once again, rust, oxidation and the creeping crud threw everything they could at me in their attempts to get me to call a tow truck. Somehow, someway, I got the pump out of the tank, the new one in and despite a relative dearth of before photos illustrating where everything goes back in place, I got everything back in and hooked up. But wait, there's more. Of course.

Upon the first "turnover" of the engine the damn thing wouldn't start. The. Hell. Amazingly, I was concerned but not panicked and I remained clear headed enough to deduce that the fuel pump was starved for fuel with the rear of the Tahoe still on my Rhino Ramps. I had only poured about two gallons of gas in, yessir, I had drained the tank while it was out so it would be less heavy when I put it back in, and with it being at an angle, all the gas I poured in went to the down end of the tank. I jacked the Tahoe up enough to pull the ramps out, waited a minute or two and, voila, the old beast started up when the fuel leveled out in the middle of the tank. What's more the check engine was off. No drink or drug comes close to the feeling of deep and warm satisfaction I got when it started.

My wife had a coupon for an oil and filter change at the shop that diagnosed the fuel pump problem that made my changing it myself not worth the hassle so within a week I dropped it off for them to do it. They recognized the our Tahoe and the tech behind the counter said to me, "you really need to get that fuel pump taken care of". I coyly smiled and laughed when I said, "oh, I did. And I did it myself". His mouth dropped when I told him that and he said, "Wow. You did that yourself? That's quite and undertaking".

Yeah. I'll say.