Is the only way to change a fuel pump on a 2000 Tahoe is to drop the tank?

Answer 1

Sorry to tell you but yes that is the way to fix it. If you had a pickup truck, you could remove the bed of the pick up and access it that way but with tahoes and blazers, dropping the tank is the way. If you decide to take on this repair yourself, make sure you get the tank as low on fuel as possible without running completely out. This helps when dropping the tank, the gas will slosh around and at almost 7 pounds per gallon, and if you have a full tank say 30 gallons.....that would be an extra 210 pounds! I would say try it with less than a 1/4 tank which should be around 5 gallons. Make sure you have fuel line discoonect tools. Also make sure you buy a well made replacement pump unless you are just getting it fixed to get rid of it. If you plan to keep your Tahoe, I doubt if you'll want to do this repair anytime soon and some cheap pumps have been known to fail 6 months into their warranty. The pump is warrantied but your labor isn't so back in you go to replace it again. I use a floor jack with a large flat board on it to put under the tank and lower it, thus not trying to manhandle all the bulkiness and weight. Try to do as much reading beforehand, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PLENTY OF VENTILATION!!!!! NO SMOKING! You will need to disconnect the filler neck from the tank, and then gently lower the tank little by little as you try to get on top of the tank to pop off the fuel lines and then there will be electrical connections that need to be disconnected as well. You will need to remove the old fuel pump, and then possibly transfer SOME parts to the new one. Make sure you save everything before you throw it out. And clean the large "O" ring that seals the top of the pump to the top of the tank. I lubricate it with dilectric grease to keep it soft. Read the directions on your NEW pump and make sure you get the correct pump. The fuel pump will be very tall and will likely need to be depressed by pushing down on the top of it when you install it and then turn the locking ring to lock it in place. This is just a brief overvie wand is in no way a complete instructional list of how to do it. This is just to give you an idea of whether you want to tackle this job yourself or not. It's not the easiest and it's not that most difficult but you do wwant to do it correctly and most of all SAFELY! Godo luck if you do decide to give it a go!