Expensive lesson learned

[holeinmysox]

About a week and a half ago when it was snowing and down to 10 degrees I went out and fired my '99 Silverado up one morning to let it warm a couple of minutes while I threw on some clothes.

I went back out 5 minutes later and the truck wasnt running. The truck has never done this before. My truck normally purrs and runs great.
I hit the key and it just cranked over and over. I noticed I didn't hear the fuel pump kick on when I hit the key so I checked for fuel at the fuel rail and nothing was there.

I checked all fuel related fuses in the electrical center and also swapped out the fuel pump relay. Still no noise out of the fuel pump when I hit the key. I felt pretty confident my fuel pump had just bit the dust so I let the truck sit til the weekend and on Saturday I dropped the tank and replaced the fuel pump ($295 at Advance Auto).
After I'm all done I hit the key and guess what....can't hear the fuel pump and the truck won't start.

Once again I go thru the electrical center and check every fuel related fuse and relay in my owners manual and everything looks good. Finally I decided to just pull every fuse and check them. I get to the vcm/pcm fuse and it's blown. Replaced the fuse and hit the key and I can hear the fuel pump running and the truck fires right up.
I have a feeling I just dropped $300 on a pump I didn't really need but I guess I can look at it like it was preventative maintenance.

Seriously I would never think to go thru every fuse in that electrical center when my vehicle won't start but you can bet if it ever happens again I will be checking every fuse in there.

Now I have to wonder what would cause the VCM fuse to blow on the vehicle while it was running in the 1st place. There were no codes or anything displayed to indicate a problem.

[steve v]

your lesson is one learned for all of us. Thanks for the heads up!

[GMMerlin]

Was the fuse that blew the ECM B fuse?
If so, take a look at the fuel module you replaced and see if the wires are burnt..