Fuel pump keeps dying in 2005 Toyota Corolla

The Delphi fuel pump came in yesterday, after work today I did the job, my light isnt nearly as bright as yours but this is what it looked like in my fuel tank from the fuel pump hole. How does this fuel look? It looks pretty cloudy but I don’t see any solids floating around. I have only a very basic superficial understanding of what fuel should look like


Looks kinda cloudy and funky. If you haven’t installed the pump yet, I think I’d try to get some fuel out and see what’s left lying in the bottom of the tank.

It might be just the way your light is reflecting off the bottom of the tank, though. Admittedly, I haven’t looked straight down into many fuel tanks.

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Is your flash light green? Looks odd. Fuel level seems very low, is there at least one inch of fuel in the tank?

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Just an update for everyone. I replaced the fuel pump module with a complete assembly

I turned the car on, cranked it, it sputtered and started. It was rough idling at around 400-600 RPM or so for 15 minutes, I figured Id let it just run for a bit at idle. May have been a bad call but I limped it at 20 mph to a Firestone when the rough idling didnt subside(Im not a huge fan of firestone but whatever). Cars RPM was so low that it would die at red lights. I started putting car in park and revving it to 1000 rpm so it wouldnt die at red lights, finally parked it at firestone and turned off car. Turned it back on 5 minutes later and idle seems to be chill at 800-900 RPM so I dont know what was going on with that… I’m suspecting air was in the fuel lines from the change over? I drove it around the parking lot very briefly and it seems fine now so thats good right?

I also checked the battery with a voltometer, reading 12.5 turned off(before I changed fuel pump, hadnt been turned on in 4 days) so I think the battery is good.

I wiggled some of the hoses and lines as well after I heard the rough idle

As of this moment I think it’s fine question mark question mark? I havent drove it on the highway yet, wanted the CEL to get ran again as well as an inspection… Also if it’s proven that my fuel is nasty I’m going to pay to have that cleaned out, obviously I don’t want to just drive it around like an idiot and break a $500 replacement pump when it hasnt been FULLY diagnosed what caused the other 3 to break

EDIT: I turned off A/C and unplugged accessories before driving (Tho now that I think of it I did leave an old ass IPOD plugged in the center console that I use for bluetoothing music in my car)

Tank is half full. Admitedly I was taken aback by the design of it myself, but this is the first time I’ve looked in it so there’s that.

Headlamp is LED White, the tank looks like its made of some sort of white plastic?

I think maybe the green is the flashlight, the fuel, and the whitish inside of the tank working together, maybe? That cumulus cloud in the center of the tank is concerning.

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I think thats the clean part of the tank maybe from where the pump was sucking and the rest is a film of dirt.

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Ah, you may well be correct. That’s not ideal either!

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After I pulled out the old pump I dumped the fluid that was inside carefully back into the tank, so maybe I stirred it up at the center causing this cloud. I took picture shortly after

That’s a reflection of the fuel pump hole from where the image was taken.

Tester

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I see the reflection of the round hole. But I’m not sure what the discoloration is in the center of that reflection. Ah well, pump’s in now anyway.

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yes it is lol but I figured the other 2 took 7 months and 9 months to die respectively and I suspect my mechanic had ONLY replaced the pump, not the entire assembly, so I risked the 3 mile leg. I’m going to see if they can take a fuel sample and hear their concerns. I want to prevent a 4th dead fuel pump.

I guess I am missing something here . Why not drain and clean the fuel tank or even replace it . Has either one been done ?

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I honestly don’t know what my mechanic has done. He never contacted me back from when I initially called them requesting to bring it in, my fuel pump died 4/2020, then the replacement died 11/2020, then THAT replacement died the other day. I remember him mentioning the first time it was replaced in April 2020 that he dropped the tank. From what I’ve been reading the only reason one would have to drop the tank when replacing a fuel pump is to clean the tank. But I’m suspecting the mechanic took me for a spin and did some shady stuff judging by the lack of reliability and him saying only the part was warrantied, not the labor. Probably doesnt mean much but he charged me for 2.5 hours of work for the first replacement, he charged me 3.5 hours of work for the 2nd replacement, but it does show up on my bill for the second replacement for a fuel pump relay.

So as of this moment until I can confirm what he has already done I don’t know for sure, but he billed me for fuel pump and pump relay and said by way of voice he dropped the tank but didnt elaborate much on it.

BTW fun fact, the first time they replaced my fuel pump they forgot to attach the paddle that gauges fuel, I found out cuz he was like “HEY MAKE SURE TO PUT FUEL IN YOUR CAR” and I was like “Oh did you have to dump the fuel?” and he said “Um no?” and I was like…“Bruh, I literally have a full tank, car died right after I filled it to full” then he was like “Well just in case fill up again”. Sure enough the dash said I was under E I got a $1.50 in before it clicked saying full… lmao…so they had to redo it. So that was probably a foreshadowing of the shenanigans that were to come

I personally have not dropped and cleaned the tank because my car died in a walmart parking lot and I’m not equiped to handle hazardous waste and I have a decent car jack and jack stands but it’s more for changing tires then lifting a car. I dont have chock blocks either… My goal was to get it working and to limp it somewhere where they could drop and clean the tank if necessary

Prices are down for borescopes. I bought one for less than $40. 5 mm diameter and about 5 meter long cable. It communicates via WiFi to my iPad, saving on the cost of a video output. I’m not suggesting that you should change your device, @Barkydog, just mentioning that there are other similar devices that some on might want to consider.

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That was a effort to justify over-charging you on the labor.

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Just had a moment of enlightenment… I can infer from them literally forgetting to put a fuel paddle on the first replacement that they replaced it with a full fuel pump assembly module. Definitely couldnt have been a good brand tho if the total price for the first fuel pump replacement was “$493”. The delphi fuel pump assembly alone was $460 from amazon.

Just curious, what’s the difference between the “fuel pump module” and a “complete assembly”?


Tester

Thanks for the photo comparison. Still a little confused. I can see the second one, presumably the complete assy, has the float, while the first doesn’t. So if your float works ok, no need to replace that part, so you buy only the first part. But I don’t see how the first part fits into the second part. I’m not seeing anything much in common between the two parts. And what is that round gasket-looking thing for? And shouldn’t there be a replacement filter-sock for the intake?