(I'm taking the time to explain what I did, because some of you may find this useful if you ever need to do something similar)

We were getting ready to leave for a family vacation to the Oregon coast, so I ran some last-minute errands to the SL valley from my home in Orem. Our car has been needing to crank a few times to start, and I had already determined it was a fuel-pressure problem. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator, hoping that would solve the issue. I didn't want to have to change the fuel pump, so I went for the low-hanging fruit.

Not only did it not fix the problem, as I drove up to the Fort Union area of the SL valley, I went from just about half a tank to under a quarter. There was no way I could drive the car to Oregon with that happening, so I took it in for a diagnostic. The car was also throwing a code for something in the evap system, but I figured that was unrelated to the fuel pressure. I still had them check that, however.

When they ran the diagnostic, they confirmed the fuel pump was not putting out enough pressure, and then not holding pressure at all as soon as I shut off the vehicle. They also told me the purge valve was bad (the code being thrown occasionally).

This was the repair price they wanted to charge for the 2 issues:
fuel pump - $879
purge valve - $196

This was way over priced, I thought, and they couldn't get me in right away anyway. This was early afternoon on Saturday, so hardly anybody was open. If I was going to drive that car to Oregon the next morning at 4 am, I needed to do it myself.

So, I got started. The first issue was emptying the full tank of gas. Yes, full. After it had dropped so much, I filled it back up all the way for our trip, which was really dumb of me to do before fixing the issue. Did you know you really can't siphon gas out of cars these days? I tried, was unsuccessful, then in googling, I discovered that fuel filler ports have flaps in them for both safety to prevent siphoning. But Youtube helped me solve how to empty the tank.

My fuel pump still pumped, it just didn't hold pressure. So I pulled the valve core out of the Schrader valve--the spot where you connect a gauge to measure the fuel pressure. It's the same type of core that is in a tire stem, and you use the same tool to remove it. Then I fitted a hose onto it tight (luckily I had just the right size, or you could clamp it). Then I pulled the fuel pump relay, and jumped across to "hot wire" the fuel pump, meaning it was always on. That pumped all my gas out nicely. Well, I stopped just short of completely empty about 28 of the 31 gallons), so I could then back my car up onto my ramps.

Then I climbed under the vehicle, unbolted the tank straps, and the filler hoses, and dropped the rear end of the tank. That gave me access to the fuel pump, so I could replace it with my new one. I connected it back up, and tried it. Yep, it worked. My fuel pressure holds, and my hard starting is fixed.

Oh, and by the way, while I was waiting for all that gas to pump out, I also replace the purge valve. Remember they wanted to charge me $196 for that? The part was $25, and it took me less than 10 minutes. IF a mechanic wants to charge you a lot to replace the purge valve, I'd go someplace else.

So, in summary, it was a lot of work, but I actually got my vehicle working for our trip, and I saved myself about $1100. I'm no longer throwing any codes, the car starts like it should, I probably saved myself a ton of money by improving my gas mileage, and I didn't strand my family at the side of the road between Orem and Oregon. I'm now sitting in our beach house typing this up after watching a beautiful sunset this evening.

(yes, my engine compartment and fuel tank are really dusty. Don't judge--it means I've taken my car fun places)

Repair estimate:


Hot wired the fuel pump:


Pumping gas out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9br_wSenUic

Tank dropped so I can replace the fuel pump: