1997 Suburban K1500 4WD - won't start

The wife was picking up my daughter, turned off the Suburban, went inside, came out, and then it wouldn't start. She called AAA and had it towed home for me to investigate.

What I see is the following:

there is a half tank of gas in it
engine cranks fast, as it normally does
all the lights and gauges work just fine
can't tell if fuel pump is running or not
no check engine lights were on - no codes were seeminingly generatedI read one post where it was suggested that I spray starting fluid into it and see if it attempts to start after that, which should tell me if it's the fuel pump or something related to the fuel system.

Is it the Ignition Control Module? How do I tell if this is the root cause or not?

I didn't get any worning that it was running bad at all. My wife puts a lot of city miles on this Suburban hauling the kids around all day. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Check for good spark.

Check fuel pressure with a gauge, should be I believe 60 to 66 PSI. Normally they need 65PSI to start. Do a search for fuel pressure testing, MT-2500 has a excellent procedure for testing.

Use a rubber mallet or flat side of a 2x4 and hit the gas tank, sometimes if the fuel pump is stuck the jarring will knock loose and work again, but if that is the case replace fuel ASAP. Use AC Delco or Delphi pump only, stay away from Airtex and Carter.

You van give it shot of starting fluid to see if it runs, at least you know you have spark then.

When was the last tune up? cap, rotor, plugs and wires. Best to use AC Delco parts.

Check for codes, check with autozone, and other autoparts stores some will have a fuel pressure tester and code reader that you can rent with a deposit which you get back when tool is returned.

Post any codes and fuel pressure results.

Good Luck

My 95 K1500 went through 4 Delphi fuel pumps in 4 months. It acted just as you described. One of the tow truck drivers said he had seen a number of bad fuel pumps on GM trucks lately. I think there's something going on....

Well, I have the final results now.

After reading your posts, and attempting to determine if there was spark. I attempted to hit the gas tank in an effort to get the fuel pump to work at least enouph to prove that the fuel pump was the issue. This did not work either.

I decided not to attempt to change the fuel pump myself this time around, although the procedure looked fairly easy and straight forward.

I had the Suburban towed over to a local repair garage.
I checked around and the part for a Delphi fuel pump for this year was around $100 with a year warrantee. Not all parts stores carried the Delphi pump, so I had to be careful to ask.

Knowing that I was going to get raked over the coals when I asked the repair shop to fix this for me, I attempted to get them to allow me to bring in my own part for them to install. They weren't happy, but they did it anyhow. He mentioned that he would need to simply charge me extra to make up the difference. I agreed, as I wanted to make sure that the correct Delphi part was installed, and not some after-market brand.

The total costs was as follows:

3 hours labor = $300, (plugs replaced on top of the tank
ground connection was faulty & rusty, and was cleaned. Low voltage was detected coming from the fuel pump.)
fuel pump wire harness = $25
fuel filter was replaced = ??
tax $19
total charge from repair shop (listed above) = $378
costs of fuel pump and screen = $126
Grand total of labor and parts = $504Bottom line is that if this happens again, I will be forced to replace it myself, or perhaps the truck will simply sit till spring when I most likly will have more cash and time to either have it fixed at the shop again or do it myself.

My advice for next time would be to ask what they are going to charge for the parts, and make them look up your exact year and model for this parts estimate, since there will be a 100% markup in all liklyhood. Call your local parts store to double check the couter price that you could get it for, just as a double check. Then ask the repair garage how much time it normally takes and get them to write this estimate down before proceeding. In my area written estimates aren't required, but they will do them when asked. In my case, I was weary of getting a $900 repair bill so I was totally lost as to what to do, since my wife needed this stupid truck to haul the kids around everyday. Next, I suggest anyone who has one of these older Suburban trucks get another vehicle as a spare so that you aren't forced to get it fixed NOW, and be forced to pay the hyway robery repair bills they give to install this part. In my case we will be picking up another used minivan (without a hitch or 4WD) that willl simply be used to haul the kids around.

I too have a -97 k1500 just like yours no notice....... when the tow truck driver pulled up he said " let me guess, fuel pump?" He said that 80% of his calls were GM vehicles that just died, or wouldn't start. My local repair shop said they keep very busy replacing fuel pumps on these vehicles, and that they couldn't count the number of times that people said , they had just replaced the pump with one from autozone, aftermarket (china). Within days it was out again. Anyway, back to mine I bought the first one from autozone, the second one two weeks later from advanced auto the same part.. the third one was Delphi, it lasted 1 month, and then finally Italked to a rep from AcDelco who explained to me that delphi used to be owned by AcDelco but not anymore, they no longer manufacture under the same patents so in essence they are no better than the chinese made ones. On my fourtth pump I replaced the entire loom in the tank. apparently there was a recall on them at one time...(funny, I never got the memo....)

I had the same problem with a '95 K1500 Suburban - four fuel pumps in four months. The OEM pump lasted 13 years and 225,000 miles. The fourth one lasted two days and about 100 miles. The OEM pump failed while I was underway - fortunately on a country road where I could get to the side.

As four the three replacement pumps, they all were working fine when I parked the truck in the garage, but it wouldn't start the next time I tried to drive it.

One of the tow truck drivers said the same as yours - there had been a lot of GM truck fuel pumps failing lately.

I think maybe there's a class action suit in the making. Any lawyers on here?

I cannot believe how many people have the exact same problem as me. I too have a 1997 suburban with a Giant gas tank ( I know becuase I have to take the darn thing out every time this has happened)

GOOD GRIEF though! this time is just like the last time but with one exception.

The Fuel gauge is pegged just past Full. and I know its not full. if I let it set a few days the gauge looks normal before I put the key in the ignition. then it pegs again when i attempt to start it.

I am begging to develop a hypothesis on this subject. some of you might think I'm a little crazy but i believe that this problem has some thing to do with crappy grounds.

I have a little bit of a unique situation and that is how I have come to this conclusion. I am a Car Audio Seller/ distributor/ support person and i only deal in the brand name KICKER. I don't ever mess with small Installs in my own cars ( Cause I have to Represent myself well) In This 97 suburban i have installed No Less than 20 complete installs. each Time I have done this I have had a few Grounding problems.

I never associated these aftermarket car audio grounding problems with any of the problems with my car. (I know it's all electrical so why didn't i think of this before now? " Kicks himself yet again")

Today I gave up at dusk with the rain Coming in and all. but I had this Idea after i put all my tools up.

Tomorrow I will not drop my tank again, I will not check fuses, i will not test relays and pull my hair out for hours on end.

Tomorrow I will Ground. I know you can buy ready made grounding kits but I think i will just make one - I'm sick to death of making other people rich off my problems and i am tired of messing with this darn suburban. LOL

it's My belief the even when the ruck is grounded like it was when it left the factory that intermitantly the grounds get weak and Or completely seperate.

on this particular problem I pulled up in my driveway shut the truck off, and left it sit for 1 week. when I got back in it all this was going on. No sound from the fuel pump - and the gas guage pegged to past full.

i will repost when i get done tomorrow - :banghead: