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Just bought a 97 vette and got stranded- help!!!!!!!!!!! please

by Christopher
(high point, nc)

Hi guys, just bought a 97 vette last friday. It has 55,000 miles. Looked as diligently as posssible to find a well cared for vette. Well, I got it home and have since put 220 miles on the car. Yesterday while getting on the highway, the vette lost power. When gassing it would just bog down. I downshifted to third and again no power. Came to a stop on the side of the highway and the car at idle died out. I tried restarting 15 times and each time is would start for two seconds then die. I never got any engine light or warning light. My fuel guage was reading a little over a 1/4 tank when the car died. I ended up towing the car to a local chevrolet dealer. They called the next day with a $1,497.32 quote saying that it appears that I will need a new right and left fuel pump parts number: 89047746 and 89047745.
I havent had the car long enough to know how to diagnose problems, but it seams unrealistic to me that two areas in the fuel system would go bad at the same time lol. Im worried about being overcharged for something much more simple or at least knowing if a bad filter, or siphon jet or something else could be the problem (not just fix the problem by replacing the major parts). Also, I called lingerfelter and they said you should only have to replace the drives side pump for a fuel issue of this type. Is this correct? Lastly, why is racetroniks and lingerfelter better yet so much cheaper than gm. Would you use one of these products to upgrade even at the expence that if the part fails or the diagnosis is incorrect, you would loose any warranty on the service work performed. What are your thoughts. All help is greatly appreciated.

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Oct 29, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Run From the Stealiership!
by: Corvette-web-central

Ligenfelter is correct you should not have to replace the RH pump! The only reason they want to is because we are almost certain that the 97's have a TSB to change it. I m the president of Corvette-web-central.com and I own a 97. The fuel pump is pretty easy to diagnose with a fuel pressure gauge on the fuel rail. Its also pretty easy to change if you are brave. Its in the drivers side tank just in front of the rear wheel. You dont have to remove the tank just the 5 or six bolts where the lines go in. Obviously fuel will come out and you should take all necessary precautions. Using the pump that lingenfelter has should be fine as long as your regulator on the fuel rail is working correctly. The right side has a jet pump which is essentially a veturi connected to the LH electric pump via fuel lines. Its job is to pull fuel over from the RH tank to the left since they cannot gravity feed.

My suggestion is to take it to a shop you trust and request installation of a fuel pump of your choice you bring with you and it should not take any longer then 3 hours. Make sure and request only the component you need changed which is the pump.

I also highly suggest that you replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the LH tank. This is a high failure item. The price is affordable. If you need any help with this just look in our C5 ask section for "fuel gauge going to empty" questions and read the comments. We have pictures so you can see where the components are on that page also.

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