phooey. :P

Hmm. I knew dropping it off at the dealer would be expensive. That's the "no duh" part of it.

They called and said it was the fuel pump. I asked if they changed the fuel filter (which is often the reason) but the "service manager" didn't know. Most often the pump is not bad and it's just the filter (and mine is near replacment time anyway)

Get this.

Fuel pump and filter with labor ~ $960 !

For reference. Fuel filter = $25 Fuel pump = $370 (288.60 dealer to shop) Labor rate = $150 - $200

Actual REAL shop cost = $ 545-595

Odd isn't it. It's cheaper for me to pay $80 and have the Jeep towed to a local shop and have it repaired there. I'd do it myself but the gas tank is full! Simply don't have the tools to safely lower that much sloshing weight or to store the gas.

I will say this. The engine did lean out (02 gauge) so that is fuel. And given the age it is possible the pump has gone because a clogged filter will usually allow the engine to idle but not accelerate. Now if it's fully plugged up then the engine won't even start. But generally the first thing is to drop the filter and pour it out backwards into a glass to see what comes out.

What I'm wondering is if all the bumping along on rutted ice covered roads shook loose a bunch of crud buildup in the tank and that's my problem.

Anyhoo.....

My luck with fuel pumps recently is that they work or they don't - no middle ground or limp home. Fortunately, the pump in the MJ can be changed without dropping the tank, even if it's full. Had to do just that one cold, rainy Sunday afternoon in the church parking lot after my son's wedding in Dallas

- miserable experience!

I knew that I knocked the sock off the pump as I installed but I was too cold and wet to care at the moment so I waited until I got back to Colorado to remedy that. With the tank close to empty, I went to fish the sock out and managed to pull six old socks out so I wasn't the first one. I also took the opportunity to scan the inside of the tank and was surprised at the amount of crap gathered in the bottom of that tank. I dropped it and flushed it really well. That pump froze solid a month later (love those "lifetime warranties") and I figure that crap was the cause after 800 miles home w/o the sock. It's amazing how much gunge accumulates in the tank but mine is an '88 so it had lots of time. The surprising thing was how little problem I had even with a bunch of pretty rough use in the mountains here but your guess about stirring things up sounds pretty reasonable.

If you go to clean the tank, I had really good luck with Seafoam and letting it soak for a day or so - dissolved nearly everything and a quick rinse with gas was all it took to get the tank clean after draining the Seafoam mixture out.

Wonderfull. :P Ever notice they never leave you stranded on a nice warm sandy beach somewhere with the beautiful girl, just a few yards from the all you can drink margarita bar?

Mine left me on a snow covered side street about ten miles from home. Sadly when it first started sputtering was the previous Thursday and I could have taken it in to a local wrencher then. But nooooooo I had to wait it out over the weekend.

Probably so. I worry a bit more about the injectors, those little buggers are expensive.

Heck, just one tank of crapoline (and I think I know where this one came from) is enough to clog the big filter. Thanfully the ZJ has an external unit, but alas you either have to cut a hole in the rear deck or drop the tank for the fuel pump.

Handn't bounce the ZJ around recently, but I'm certainly not easy on it either. Usually replace fuel filters every couple of years or about

A few years piror I picked up some real s*it.

Just got off the phone with the dealer. For the price they are going to clean the whole system and the tank. Given how crappy it is outside I'll just suck it up and hope the pump lasts till the ZJ falls apart.

Can't bitch much, (well, yes I can, but...) it's the original 1993 pump and it gets a bit more use due to the supercharger. Got a Kenne Bell boost-a-pump module on it that ups the overall pressure to 75psi rather than 32psi.

As a repair tech, I can also tell you that invariably when the fuel pump starts to act up, the owner will dump 20 gal of gas into the tank to try and fix it. Then I gotta figure out what to do with a couple of hundred pounds of gas when I drop the tank. Our small dealership doesn't have the funds to buy a gas bowser like some of the bigger places I've worked.

In my case the tank was nearly full. Just filled it for a trip actually.

If it was about half full or less (and died in the garage) I would have bought a a couple 5 gal plastic fuel cans. Fairly easy to siphon the fuel off. The problem is all the red-tape and storing. Guess an outside fuel cabinet would work. Thing is if the gas is crap then it has to either be settled then filtered real well, or tossed. So I'd be stuck with a couple of years worth of lawnmower feed.

Same exact damn thing happened to me recently. It didnt turn me into a pedestrian, but it sure started spluttering, running rough, etc. Began within 5 minutes after filling my tank at a local Stop & Pee. Adding alcohol can sometimes make water/ice in gas worse with Bushgas. Added fuel stabilizer, filled tank with higher priced Bushgas, did that again. Drove it for a while, where it somewhat came and went. Started in subzero temperatures, ran well when cold. After warmup began the stuttering under load. Gave up, took in to check for plugged cat. Nope. Ran a general check. Spark plugs getting warn, and a burnt ignition wire. Swapped wire, back to normal 6 banger purr. ^@$^@$%###!!!

Here's a crazy one for ya:

Quit running, got mad so I rocked the tar out of it ... started right up. Three days later, quit again, 35 miles from home, my brother towed me home, replaced filter and it started right up ( it got rocked again while jacking it up). Two weeks later, it quit again and had to be towed across town to get home.

Dropped tank after siphoning out fuel and found the pump power wire shorted out. Found pump loose in mount but replaced pump and still no start, pulled it apart and the tube thru the mount was broken loose and had pulled the hose off the pump. Silver soldered it back in place and haven't had a problem since.

Diagnosis:

Some dunce of a tech had twisted the fuel line and broke it loose while replacing the OEM pump, installed the generic one badly (came loose from mount) and the the whole shebang flopping around shorted the power lead, which fortunately was covered in fuel when it happened (no O2 to cause a fire).

And people wonder why I prefer to do my own work . . . . . . . .

I must be getting old - seems most people never heard of the best one-time gas filter around: a clean chamois. Put it inside a funnel, pour the gas through it (runs faster than you would expect). About as fine a filter as you can find but don't expect it to clean windows after that ;-) Used to keep one in a mason jar in the boat as it also does a pretty good job of getting eater out of the gas.

Hey Doug, I have a friend who is having the same problem. He took his out over the weekend to play in the snow a little and it crapped out on him just like yours did. About the same model too.

On the bright side, I was planning on taking the Jeep on a long trip and that means it probably would have crapped out miles from nowhere.

Have him stick a fuel pressrure gauge on it. Or a low side R-12, same fitting. 32 psi (40 for later models) and no sag. Mine was putting out about 4psi. That's not enough to even get the injectors to drip.

I suggest going with OEM on the part. I took a look at some aftermarket chinese junk and there is no way I'd use them.

Parts from CPD for 300 jobber cost or locally for 393. The $tealership charged 492! or roughly $100 over parts cost. I'm going to double-check parts numbers, it could be they didn't just replace the pump module but actually the whole pump/fuel gauge assembly. That would be a ..bit.. more reasonable.

Labor was 421.11 .sigh. But then again I didn't have to freeze my butt off wrestling a mostly full gas tank. They did clean the tank and gave me a 12mo 12,000 mile reach-around... er warranty. ^_^

That seems, shall we say, a bit excessive. Haven't done a ZJ, but I've done

I use a coffee maker filter. Makes a decent filter, it's less expensive, but don't expect to make coffee with it after that ;-)

Rick

I don't know about that - you've never tried my wife's coffee. I think she may actually re-use those filters.

You're describing the reason my oldest son got out of the shop and into teaching - he loved the wrenching but couldn't take the environment. Rate gouging and up-sell pressure ran him out of the shop in short order.

Same as they make at work.

Paint stripper or coffee, depends on if you spill it or not.

I have a big roll of filter paper, works very well for me. But second choice is that coffee filter--they are good for a lot of things besides coffee... BTW, the guys in the shop never noticed when we used the filter for other things, in fact our chief knuckle dragger complemented the coffee once afterwards--"Great automotive coffee, gotta make it that way more often!" I, of course, said nothing.

Wash the chamois in a good mild soap and water, rinse thoroughly and it'll clean windows again. Just an old detailer's trick.

Btw, if you suspect your gas of having water in it, running it though the shammy will filter the water out ... a chamois absorbs water easier than it does gas.

That's why I kept one in the boat - used to be a common item in most tackle boxes in my part of the world. For some reason - maybe the soap/detergents I've used - washing one more than a couple of times seemed to do them in. Anymore, I find that warm/hot water seems to do pretty well but anymore I mostly use one for the inside of the windshield in the winter so I'm no expert.

You would be amazed at all the old tricks that are disappearing . . . .

Along with us older guys.

For some reason, younger people aren't interested in it if it ain'tcomputerized, it seems.

Like using 91% strength rubbing alcohol to dry out water from gas in a car's tank ... and it's cheaper than Heet (my step-dad used moonshine . . . )