Did The Fuel Filter Replacement Fix It?

[bauermill]

My wife's Tahoe (2001 5.3L) started to chug and stall on her. I assumed it wasn't getting enough fuel so I changed the fuel filter, after I got it started again, it chugged a little more and wanted to die, I was able to keep it running and after a couple of minutes by giving it some gas when it was about to die, and it smoothed out and ran well for 10 minutes. I turned it off and restarted it, it fired right up and ran again for another 5 minutes. I took it on a 15 min test drive around the neighborhood and it did fine.

 

Since my wife tends to keep little gas in the Tahoe (always around 1/4 tank to nearly empty), I assumed that some junk in my tank ended up getting in my line and/or filter and stopped the gas from getting to the engine. And when I replaced the tank and forced the engine to keep running by pumping the gas pedal, it pushed any debris behind the filter into the new filter, allowing for gas to flow freely again. Does anyone have any experience with this, do you think my wife should be good to drive it again without fear of getting stranded? Is there a bigger problem that Tahoes/GMT's have with fuel delivery that I am experiencing and don't know about?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

And yes, she will be keeping more fuel in it from now on. I hope.

[ColoradoSkiCountry]

Go ahead and run some a bottle or two of Techron or BG44K thru the tank and then replace the fuel filter again and see if that improves things even more, I bet it will. Just keep in mind though that the fuel pump, having been exposed to less than 1/4 tank of gas frequently will burn out and put out less pressure over time and fail, as many of us on here have found out the hard way. Should have been around here 6 or 7 years ago when all of us with 99-03 Sierra's & Silverado's were having fuel pressure regulator, and fuel pump issues.

[bauermill]

I took it down to put more gas in it, and it died again. I had it towed to a mechanic. Hopefully I'll have it back by next week. Darn Friday the 13th.

[Silverado4x4]

Yup keeping a fuel tank that low all the time will greatly reduce the fuel pump life.

[medic9126]

After replacing fuel pumps in my 97 1500 4.3L and my 02 ZR2 4.3L, I never let my tank get below 3/8 tank. Once it hits 1/2 I look for gas.