Other fuel system problem on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500
2 fires 2 of the 7 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.
Only 7 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.
When other fuel system problem gets reported
There are 7 reports of other fuel system problem on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500, 7 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 90,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 118,736 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 fire 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 $300–$2,200 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 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 60,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 gmc sierra 2500 hd. While driving 35 MPH, the warning lights on the instrument panel continued to flash on and off. In addition, the windshield wipers activated and smoke was noticed underneath the hood. The contact had been driving for several minutes before noticing the smoke. The hood could not be opened and the fire department was called. A police report was filed. Ten minutes later, the vehicle was engulfed in flames and destroyed. The failure and current mileages were 65,000. Updated 09/25/08 *bf the consumer stated it was a possible fuel line failure. Updated 09/26/08. *jb
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 gmc sierra 2500 hd. The contact stated that the vehicle was repaired two months ago for the fuel filter housing, which caused the vehicle to immediately stall. Since july 3, 2009, the failure has been recurring while driving 20 MPH. Gm stated that they did not have any parts available to repair the vehicle due to so many consumers who were experiencing the same issue. Gm is researching an alternative to repairing the fuel housing failure. The contact feels that this is a serious safety defect. The failure mileage was 117,000. Updated 08/14/09. *lj updated 08/14/09.*jb
While driving, large amount of smoke came out. Took it to gm dealer who said that it the fuel injectors were leaking. Looked online and noticed hundreds of reports of the same action. Gmc apparently did an extended warranty for the issue, but only covered it for 7 years from time of purchase and up to 200,000 miles. Talked to local dealer who denied the service and gm wont replace the fuel injectors. *tr
Also reported on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500
Other brake problem
Loss of braking
Other electrical problem
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Rust or structural corrosion
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 7 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 7 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 other fuel system problem happen on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 120,000 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 other fuel system problem on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500?
7 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 12 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