F150 Diagnostics...
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My dad's truck hasn't been wanting to start this winter suddenly, and we're fairly certain it's the pump. He doesn't want to bring it in and pay $$ just to be told it's that, but he also wants to know for sure that it IS the pump. Does any place do that? Chris(CMK) I figure will know best about this since he's a ford nerd. It cranks over fine but doesn't start no matter what he does...he's sat outside for 10 minutes cranking it every 20 seconds or so and it doesn't start, then when he actually hears the pump start to cycle it fires up the next try.
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what sounds like happening is the pump is draining off back into the tank. All those things mentioned above wont let you know exactly what is going on with the fuel pump other than hearing it run and knowing it has electrical contact. You need to attach a fuel pressure gauge and watch it. the gauge should read nearly full pump psi when the key is turned to the on position as the pump primes. but if the pump drains off, then you'll loose a lot of pressure. with the guage attached, you'll see this. the fuel system should always have pressure, which is to let the system be ready and start almost immediately when you turn the key.
I understand why people dont like to go and pay a lot to figure out what is wrong with their car. But you need to realize you are not only paying for their time, but the technicians training and tools. If I was to look at it at work, that would be one of the very first things I would check and it wouldn't take long at all. We hardly ever charge Diag, which is going to change otherwise ill be looking for a new job. While I'm looking at it, my $20G's worth of training, 12 Certifications, and over $30K worth of tools is what your 1/2 to 1 hour $60 Diag is paying for. Then you have the option of taking the vehicle elsewhere.
On another note, and I see this a lot, If you were to "diagnose" it yourself and it was wrong, you would be looking at paying too much money for something that may be simple. And yes, I see this a lot too.
Example: Dodge truck where the guy absolutely refused to pay for diagnostics. Ended up spending over $1000 just to try and fix his none running fuel pump. Thing he looked over was the $.50 fuse.
In your case, if you think it is the pump and bring it in and want it replaced, saying that it has already been looked at. We go ahead and replace a $400-900 pump and it doesn't fix it. What happens next? You get pissed and are out of a lot of money. It could be a faulty pressure regulator, bad ECU/PCM, or a lot of other things including high resistance at the electrical connector or a bad ground wire.
MOST Diagnostic services run around $60-80. When they get to a point to were it looks like it will take awhile, they would let you know so you dont have to pay too much money without knowing. Extreme cases of costing several hundred are ones where they are electrical problems that take several hours-days to figure out. This normally includes tear down of items to get to many things too.
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Well he's been in the garage all morning checking all the wiring/relays. He did say that there is NO pressure in the system though, checked the bleeder line in the engine and no gas came out. I'm thinking a seal in the pump blew or else the whole pump is just shot. We're 95% certain it's the pump. All the wiring up to the pump is fine, and when you can hear the pump cycle the truck starts. All yesterday he couldn't even get it to start and not once did we hear the pump turn on or cycle.
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He's bringing it in and having Lunde do it. Changing the fuel pump when it's 20 below isn't worth it.
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