Whining Fuel Pump On Tahoe

rbarger · January 25, 2008

I have a 1999 Chevy Tahoe. The fuel pump makes a loud whining noise. Do I need to replace the fuel pump, or is there something else I can do?

NothinButBowTies · January 25, 2008

How old is the filter?

Daniel T · January 25, 2008

check your inline fuel filter.....although the fuel pump on my Y2K burb has been whining when it gets really hot ambient temps. for years with no ill effects.

Seems to do it the most after a long hot trip pulling my RV....

dealer technicians said not to worry....and that was almost 8 years ago. So I guess they were right.

rbarger · January 25, 2008

I don't know how old the filter is. I just bought the vehicle a few months ago. It has 92k miles. I haven't had any issues other than the whining noise. It seems to be getting a little worse though.

Thanks for the responses.

pne123 · January 25, 2008

I have a 99 tahoe w/ 101k miles on it. We bought it w/ 32k miles on it and the pump made whining noise. Took it in and the dealership said that was normal for that year. It is getting slightly worse. My mechanic says it is starting to go. it could be tomorrow or 50k miles from now. At 95k miles the gas gauge stopped working. Stuck on full which is happens as the pump goes out. The sending unit in the tank controls it all. Have to drop the tank to fix. I would just keep driving it. Fix it when it actually starts to fail. that what was recommended to me.

C & A s Dad · January 25, 2008

There are some cases where a treatment of Lucas Upper Cyl Lube (fuel treatment) will eliminate or reduce the whinning noise. No promises but the stuff is inexpensive and will help in other areas even if it does not stop the noise. I would get a qt, run it at 5 ozs of LCS to 10 Gallons of fuel for the first tank or two and then reduce it to 3 ozs per 10 gallons.

I would also agree that you need to change the Fuel Filter if you do no know how long it has been in there. There also seems to be no relationship between the whinning noise and the pump going out.

rbarger · January 25, 2008

Thanks.

zxcvbnm · January 25, 2008

Noisy fuel pumps are normal for this generation of trucks. Its very annoying but normal.

willysts · January 25, 2008

I don't know how old the filter is. I just bought the vehicle a few months ago. It has 92k miles. I haven't had any issues other than the whining noise. It seems to be getting a little worse though.

Thanks for the responses.

Not knowing how old the filter is is the perfect reason for changing it! Then you will know how old it is. Plus, it may be making the pump work harder and cause it to fail.

Bostonsfavson · January 25, 2008

I've never been a fan of in-line fuel filters. They almost seem to cause more problems than they're worth.

C & A s Dad · January 25, 2008

I've never been a fan of in-line fuel filters. They almost seem to cause more problems than they're worth.

I cannot think of anyway around them? You would certainly see injector and/or pres. regulator problems if you did not have a good filter in place.

spfish · January 25, 2008

Bought my 99 Suburban brand new with 2 miles on it. The fuel pump was whining then. It honestly didn't seem any worse to me the day it failed at about 150k. Nobody shoot me here, but I NEVER changed the fuel filter. Never occurred to me that I needed to. I never had any warning that it was going bad. I backed it out of the driveway and parked on the street to do some yard work. Went back later to pull it back in and it wouldn't start. A free tow and $500 later, I had a new fuel pump. Not cheap due to its location in the fuel tank.

What little advice I can offer is that its gonna whine so drive it til it fails. Looking at it now, changing the fuel filter sure can't hurt.

Bostonsfavson · January 25, 2008

I've never been a fan of in-line fuel filters. They almost seem to cause more problems than they're worth.

I cannot think of anyway around them? You would certainly see injector and/or pres. regulator problems if you did not have a good filter in place.

Sorry; I should have been more specific. I meant the aftermarket in-line fuel filters that a lot of places sell. Their filtration characterisitics are usually pretty bad and I know of many people who have experienced problems when using them.

Zembonez · January 25, 2008

I have a 1999 Chevy Tahoe. The fuel pump makes a loud whining noise. Do I need to replace the fuel pump, or is there something else I can do?

The pump on my 01 Silverado whined from day one and was still going strong at almost 100K when I sold it. I know the guy that bought it (he's a member here) and it is still going. Apparently it isn't a very good indicator of the pump going out.