2000 S-10 Flex-Fuel Fuel Pump

[KerPlunk]

Hi, I have had a 2000 S-10 that I bought about 9 months ago used and recently found out that the thing is a flex-fuel... Anyways, I bought it with only 20000 miles on it and over that time only put about 6000 miles on it. Of that about 4000 miles were highway, but over those 9 months it was used at least once a week if not more. Recently I was in Arizona and drove the thing 150mi on the highway from Flagstaff to Phoenix which is going from about 7000 ft to 1500 ft and the temperature(at night) went from mid 40s to mid 70s... As soon as I got off the interstate and started driving in slow airport traffic(20mph) the thing would die quickly but smoothly, no sputtering or anything... Thinking it was vapor lock I let it rest for the night(after a few hours of struggling with it) and the next morning it ran great and made it about 14mi out of flagstaff when it again started having the same problem it had the night before. To summarize we brought it in, the mechanic(local, non-dealer) said it was the fuel pump, replaced the thing(the flex fuel pump goes for an insane $630 alone) and what not and the thing ran great and drove across country just fine again... What I'd like to know is if this is going to be a continuing problem? I've never heard of a fuel pump going out on a truck with so few miles on it(and in otherwise excellent condition), nor have I ever heard of a pump so outrageously expensive... Could this be a fluke(an out of warranty one at that), a problem with bad gas, or what? Now that I know that just the fuel pump is going to run over $600 with a $100 filter and a $50 gasket, I'm afraid to even put gas in the thing...

[TopDogg]

Call around to other dealers and independent garages. Get a price for what you had done.

[KerPlunk]

I'm fairly certain the price was fair, at least for the list price of the parts. The actual service charge was $290 for about 5hrs of work, 1.5 hrs of driving to Flagstaff and finding the part that day(rare part for flex fuel required 3 seperate places in flag), and actually we got the dealer price on the pump which put it at $530, but all in all, this is way to much money for a part that failed at 26000mi. As far as being taken advantage of by a mechanic in the middle of nowhere that really didn't hapen. I do feel very agry at chevy for putting in a part that failed so early though.

[TopDogg]

Chevy didnt make the part. and sometimes this happens.

[travtrk]

i have had many problems with my 2.2L flex fuel sonoma. I've changed the fuel filter twicein 85k. the gas costs $16 and the flex is $60. and it still wont run right. I hope mine doesn't need a $600 pump too.

[s10courier]

autopartsgiant.com carries the acdelco pump for $377 and change. doesn't do you much good when you're down but for anyone who anticipates needing one maybe it can save you some cash if you order it now and save it till you need it.