A little over a month ago I purchased a 99 4Runner as an over landing project for myself and my fiancé. We have spent the past few weeks giving it much needed TLC and replacing old and tired parts. Last weekend I drove to my local Toyota dealer to pick up a parts order and while idling in the parking lot the vehicle died. I could get it to turn over but not fire. I noticed I couldn’t hear the fuel pump and chalks it up to that. I went into the service desk and explained what happened and asked if they could get the car in to take a look? Caveat here, I avoid dealership service like the plague but my options were slim this time around. They insisted on a $160 diagnostic that I finally gave into. They give me a call later on stating that they had confirmed it was a fuel pump based on their “test”. They then had the nerve to quote me $2400 to replace it. I laughed at the guy on the phone and began arranging a tow so I could fix it myself.
Fast forward to today, I drop the fuel tank to get to the fuel pump and surprise there is no gas :). So my fuel pump was completely fine, my fuel float was causing a wrong reading on my gas gauge showing I still had a half tank.
My question is, did the dealer completely lie about their “test” or would this have caused a “failing” result from there being no fuel in the tank?
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Embarrassing that they didn’t realize the tank was empty, but technically they’re right - You DO need a new fuel pump. They were just right for the wrong reason. They probably just checked for fuel pressure and seeing none, they jumped to the conclusion of a faulty pump.
Dealer techs are often under the gun to do quick diagnoses and end up overlooking things. But also yes, $2400 is laughably absurd
I’ve seen that at times over the years. Good idea to hook up a scope with an Amp Clamp and see if the pump is spinning. This shows if the pump is spinning and the circuit is working. Low amps mean little work and maybe out of gas. I doubt the tech did that step. I do because I’ve been there and wanted to come up with a good test for that. It’s not a test that comes up in service info or maybe training. If they replaced the pump with sender they would have been covered in your case. I see senders online and also pump and senders for a little more. It’s kind of a live and learn thing. You could have pressed the issue if you paid for the repair but not sure if that would have helped. Good for you doing it yourself, big savings.