Q: How can start my truck that possibly has a bad fuel pump

asked by on November 04, 2017

I need to move my truck less then a 2 miles away under its own power. I just finished up replacing the power steering pump. Went to start it and it sounded out of gas so i put roughly 4 gallons in it and I cant get it to turn over. Ive moved the vehicle many times in the last few months without the belt or the whole power steering assembly and never had issues starting up which makes me believe it is caused by running out of gas. Im assuming its the original pump and its not the first fuel pump to go out after running out of gas. How can I get it moving ASAP?

My car has 250000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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Mechanics have a lot of tricks, but we can’t start a fuel injected truck without fuel pressure. When a car or truck has a lot of miles on it, sometimes running out of gas is enough to finish off the fuel pump. This is because your fuel pump lives in the tank and the fuel that passes through it also cools and lubricates the pump. When it is run dry it is kaput. Of course you can’t be sure that the pump is dead without checking the fuel pressure, but it sounds like you’ve been there before. The only suggestion I can make is that you contact YourMechanic to have a technician come out to your home or office to check out your starting problem for you.

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