Hi guys,
I had to replace the bed on my truck and decided to replace the fuel pump while the bed was off. The pump install went fine, and the truck ran perfectly for about 10 minutes afterward (total run time) and about five start/stop cycles. (I was moving the truck in/out of the garage and idling during this 10 minutes)
Now the truck cranks, but no start. My Foxwell code scanner shows no codes.
I can hear the fuel pump activate when ignition is turned on.

Here's the odd thing.......after the pump replacement I decided to remove the front seats to clean up the vinyl floor mat. I avoided getting the control module under the seat wet. But I did disconnect the seat harness on each side. After installing the driver seat, I checked codes only because I saw the OBD port and thought what the heck why not. The passenger seat was not installed yet. At this time I, I got an airbag light on the dash. (Passenger restraint fault). I installed the passenger seat, connected the harness and cleared the code.
The truck started and ran twice after installing the seats. The crank/no start problem only occurred AFTER I cleared the seat belt fault code.

So I'm wondering - are the two issues related? Or is it coincidental?
I disconnected the battery at both posts for ten minutes. Still no start, and NO codes now for the engine or restraint system. No codes at all.

Thoughts on diagnosis? The truck ran great before the bed and pump replacement. No accidents, the bed was only replaced after I removed a steel flatbed utility body to put the original bed back on.

Tom

 

An update for today. Still not good news.

When I got home from work I went out to the truck to try and start it. It fired up right away normally. Then I saw the airbag light go on. Then the 'Service AdvanceTrac' message. They stayed on.
So I let the truck run for 10 minutes to confirm the fuel pump is working.
I shut off the engine, grabbed the Foxwell code scanner and plugged it in. Got one code for the passenger restraint system. Cleared it, removed the key and attempted to re-start the truck to see if the message and light stayed off. All I got was a crank but no start.

So I'm right back where I began. But I do feel the new fuel pumping is working OK. Something else is going on with the ignition.
Open to ideas and suggestions.
Tom

 

Just a guess, it popped into my head, reboot everything by removing the battery cables and see if that works?????

 

Thanks for the reply Eddie. I should have mentioned in my second post that I did unhook both cables of the battery for 10 minutes as part of my initial troubleshooting. It didn't change anything.

The truck still won't start today.

 

Your "Service Advancetrac" message makes me think that you might be having communications issues between various modules due to an issue with the large cam-lock electrical connector by the parking brake. Issues with this connector have also contributed to a no-start situation for others. You may try unplugging the connector and then reconnecting it to see if it helps resolve your issue.

 

DJ, thanks for the tip. I did clean that area by the parking brake when I was swabbing out the vinyl floor mat. Truck still won't start. We just had a whopping snowstorm and I haven't been able to work on the truck but hope to this weekend. will report back on if that connector does the trick. In the meantime, any other suggestions or info from anyone is still appreciated.
Tom

 

Monday April 8th update:

Still cranks but no start.

All fuses and relays are good.
I checked with a noid light the ignition coil and do have spark. I removed the fuel line at the fuel rail...and had no fuel come out while cranking. The tank was half full, I added 2.5 gallons. The dash fuel gauge indicated the additional fuel. My scan tool shows the fuel level at 65% full.
With key inserted into ignition, I can hear the fuel pump energize everytime.

I have had to clear codes three times for the occupant restraint system. It keep popping back up even though the seatbelt connectors are fully tight and the restraint control module under the seat connections are tight and secure. No other codes are showing up.

Something is blocking fuel from the pump to the engine.

Any suggestions?

 

Can you back-blow the fuel rail line? Listen for coffee percolating sounds coming from the tank

Have you keyed on while the fuel rail is disconnected? Pump priming should shoot fuel out.

 

I had not done a back-blow test. I agree that would eliminate a physical blockage.
I did crank the engine with the rail line disconnected. Bone dry, no out flow.

 

Does your OBD2 device read live PIDs? Is there any fuel pressure?

 

Hi Stuart,
Still no start.
Yes my reader does live PID's. Here are the values regarding the fuel system. I don't have a specific fuel pressure value on my model of reader. But when cranking the 'Calculated Load Value' goes from 13 to 100%. I don't know what 'Fuel System 1 & 2 Status' means but here are the values displayed. And I do see in the SRS live data menu that the 'Fuel Cutoff Request Status' is 'Normal'.
I get a slew of airbag and restraints codes coming up. None of these were present before I replaced the fuel pump and removed & replaced the seats for cleaning. I know the driver seat belt latch is sending a signal, as the reader can sense whether the driver belt is latched or not, and when I yank/pull on the belts the values will change on one of the parameters . So i don't know what the 'Lost Communication' codes are about.

I'm still not sure if the two problems are related to the no-start condition. It's been crap weather here and I haven't had much opportunity to poke at it in the last week.
Tom

 

Hi guys, I thought I'd circle back and and explain what the problem was and what it took to fix it.

It turns out the Airbag system codes and restraint/fuel shut-off module were unrelated, they were red herrings and had nothing to do with the problem.

The real problem was the brand new fuel pump. Since I could hear the pump activating and operating, I knew I didn't have a wiring problem. But when I removed the bed and the new pump, I saw that the vertical black plastic hose line that goes from the pump motor to the top plate of the pump assembly had popped loose. So the fuel pump was just pushing the gas back down into the tank and NOT towards the engine.

I reconnected the black plastic hose (it has a barbed nipple) and ran the pump and it worked. However the hose popped back off three days later and I had to lift the bed off and pull the pump one more time. To solve the problem I bought another new pump from NAPA at double the price and installed it. The pump is now working again.

The defective pump was bought from Amazon (Brand YHTAUTO) for $89. It turned out this was a bad choice and I DO NOT recommend getting the cheap-azz pumps from Amazon.
A lesson learned the hard way, I'm sharing this to hopefully prevent others here from doing the same thing.

Tom