Fuel pump failure on the 2000 Chevrolet Silverado
2 crashes 2 of the 20 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When fuel pump failure gets reported
Owners of the 2000 Chevrolet Silverado report fuel pump failure at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 20th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 79,546 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
17% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36,500 miles | 57,500 miles | 60,000 miles | 71,114 miles | 116,046 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
Of these reports, 2 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $600–$2,600 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 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 900 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 1997 carries the most reports, with 26; the 2000 has 20. 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.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Fuel module in the gas tank was faulty and had to be replaced at my expense. The new module (ki 3.107) which was an updated model was installed as this was a frequent problem for the silverado pickups. Mine is a 2000, VIN [xxx]. The faulty module resulted in blowing a 20 amp fuse multiple times. The local dealership required several hours of trouble shooting and company consultation to learn that the tank module was the problem as this is a frequent problem, so they replaced it with an improved version, but since my pickup had 50,000 miles on it I had to pay the full price of the module installation. I feel that this situation of an electrical wire running into the gas tank to a component part that has frequently shorted out presents a real danger. I request this be investigated for a possible recall. I have verbally been denied any help with the cost of this by the chevrolet motor division customer assistance center, complaint #1-131209176. The rationale for the disinterest was "oh, its just one of those things that happens". I wish you to consider this case for investigation relative to a recall on this module. Feel free to…
The engine developed a skip while on vacation. I brought it to a garage, the technician diagnosed the problem as clogged fuel injectors. He showed me some clogged injectors from another 2000 silverado that he had repaired the previous week. He claimed that rust was in the gas tank, and the fuel pump "sandblasted" the rust through the fuel filter and into the fuel injectors. It turns out that my truck had the same problem. He replaced the fuel injectors (all 8) and cleaned the fuel rails. He installed a new fuel filter. This cost over $1,100. After rturning from vacation, I thought I should find the cause of the rust in the fuel system. I took the gas tank out and discovered the plastic gas tank was full of rust. I tipped the el pump assembly upside down, and a great quantity of rusty gasoline poured out. I took this assembly apart and discovered that the fuel pump motor itself (a small steel canister device) was a ball of rust. The pump evidently is not galvanized or plated. The pump motor is the only steel component in the tank. The tank itself cannot rust. The rust from the pump was forced into the fuel system, causing the…
Abs module bad, no antilock brakes, the ABS light on dash is on constantly. Dealer says part is $800 and only availaible at gm. Same with fuel pump/sending unit, $350 only availiable gm, steering column knocks, both support cables on tailgate bad although recall coming too little too late, and the throttle body sticks are closed.*ak
Also reported on the 2000 Chevrolet Silverado
ABS module or sensor failure
Loss of braking
Other brake problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 20 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 pump failure happen on the 2000 Chevrolet Silverado?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel pump failure on the 2000 Chevrolet Silverado?
20 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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