AtWhatMileage
Fuel · 8 owner reports

Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500

Only 6 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.

Reports of this failure 8
With an odometer reading 6
Reports per 1,000 built 2.5 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 0%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $250–$1,800
What it means when it happens Moderate
Rank among this year's problems 12th

When fuel tank, filler or evap failure gets reported

There are 8 reports of fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500, 6 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 6 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
— — 125,340 miles — —

Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.

What a percentile can and cannot tell you here

These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.

What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.

Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.

What happens, and what it costs

Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.

The same failure on other years

The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 1999, at a median of 80,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 140,000 miles.

By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 11; the 2002 has 8. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.

If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Main brake line for rear axle failed. Causing diminished braking ability and partial loss of vehicle control entering corner. Causing my truck to enter on coming traffic lane until control was regained. Examination revealed rear brake line failed along frame rail above gas tank. Brake lines appear to be very corroded. I have been told I must replace all the brake lines as they are all corroded. *tr

56,760 miles NHTSA complaint 859993 filed 2011-06-04

Lost sudden brake pressure. Have no warning light. Found a pool of brake fluid under middle of truck bed this morning. A brake line appears to have ruptured above the gas tank. I have read of numerous complaints with this same issue. Thank god I discovered the problem at home and did not continue to drive this morning. *tr

125,680 miles NHTSA complaint 954386 filed 2012-12-19

Brakes failed ,pedal went to floor; main line from master cylinder sprung a leak,noticed all lines near drivers side inner fender rusty , had wife pump brakes; brake fluid sprayed. I replaced main lines to distribution block and one front line. Called dealer he said they new of this problem and told me to check rear line going over gas tank. I will replace it soon . Any of these trucks still on the road need to be repaired .I've driven this truck since it was new. *tr

220,000 miles NHTSA complaint 955488 filed 2012-12-29

Also reported on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500

Loss of braking

58 reports median 81k

Brake line, hose or caliper failure

44 reports median 85k

Other brake problem

43 reports median 88k

ABS module or sensor failure

36 reports median 71k

Other engine problem

26 reports median 76k

Engine sensor failure

16 reports median 83k

How far this goes

This page is kept out of search results because 8 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.

Complaints are voluntary, so 8 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.

Questions this page answers

At what mileage does fuel tank, filler or evap failure happen on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?

Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 125,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is fuel tank, filler or evap failure on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?

8 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.

What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars

Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed