Hey guys, I am woking on a friend's 99' Chevy Vortec 454 Dually that is constantly eating up in-tank fuel pumps,(he goes to the desert alot!) It is a pain in the butt to keep dropping the tank to rplace the pump. Do you guys happen to have any info on doing a conversion to an external pump?.....Thanx!

Never done one with a stock tank. We have always done them using fuel cells. I dont know about how to get the fuel out of the stock tank.

i assume he is stil lgoing to run al lthe electronics and not run a carb set up right?

Does he run it below 1/4 tank alot? GM fuel pumps use the fuel to cool the pump and when its low on fuel it doesn't cool properly and overheats, wala bad pump. Also seems to pick up the crap on the bottom and also if he is in an area with high humidity and drastic temp changes the fuel will get a lot of condensation in it when it is run on the low side alot. Just a few ideas. I don't know about replacing the intank pump though. Make your life easier and put an access panel in the bedfloor and makes life way easier.

I think if you put a chunk of tubbing in place of the fuel pump a new pump should pull the fuel. if he's going to run the EFI your going to have to get a pump that pushes a lot of pressure I don't know how the ECM will like it though


I'm getting an education on gm EFI fuel systems I'm on my 3rd vehical with fuel delivery problems in 2 weeks

That brings up a good point pigrig, the passlock system controls the fuel pump and I don't know if it will like a different pump or not. They are touchy with resistance and technical stuff like that and I don't know if it reads the fuel pump like that or not. I do know that if the passlock doesn't get the right signal from the ignition that the truck will start for a second then die from lack of fuel.

I think it would be easier to figure out the reason that the stock pumps are burning up so easily

running it under 1/4 tank is bad on those pumps.....also the sender wiring can cause the fuel pump to fail. replacing the sender assembly, or re-wiring the sender can help. NAPA sells a pump with new wiring for the sender. I replaced 3 pumps, then used the NAPA pump with new wiring, and NEVER run under 1/4 tank. so far so good

Is the truck using after market pumps?
Like every one said,
gasoline in all vehicles is used as an coolant for intank fuel pumps.
So keep gas in them cars!

Try using a factory GM/Delco pump. they should be good for 5 years or 100k (till the warranty expires.)
I always use dealer parts for 96 and newer vehicles (OBDII)

that running under a 1/4 tank is why my blazers gone tits up agine but this time the sending unit had a major melt down all the wires are fried and the wire coming out of the tank are melted

i did what you are talkin about tryin to do with mine. im running a older style(92-95) suburban tank in the back between the frame rails... it has a pump in tank but its not enough pressure, so its basically just a lift pump to get the fuel to the frame mounted high volume pump.




you will have to get a pump that will prduce 65+ psi to get the injectors to open.... that will be the frist/main thing you have to worry about.


you can do as said above and extended the pick up tube down tothe bottom of the tank but be DAMN SURE to put a filter on it.... but to keep from burnign up the frame mounted pump i would suggest you do like i did and use a intank pump to get the fuel up to teh frame mounted one.


hope this helps some