Quote Originally Posted by Weasel Diesel View Post
After working in a dealer shop for 25 years, I can say that just about every fuel pump in the tank I had to do, had darn near a full tank. The book usually paid roughly 4 hrs for the job (drain tank, drop tank, ect ). I never dropped one tank. I would unbolt the 4 bed bolts, unplug the light harness and tilt the bed up like a dump truck. This allowed plenty of room to get to unit. Swapped them out, dropped the bed, BAM !! Paid 4hrs in 45 minutes. Gravy Train...
I've heard of people cutting an access hole in the trunk also. I paid over $400 in the 80's for a fuel pump in the tank on a Turbo Coupe Thunderbird, after paying a couple hundred for the diagnostic test saying it was a sensor. Of course they still had to charge me for the sensor. That was over $600 it's scary when you have to go to the dealer. Today my mechanic friend lives down the road from me so he does the same thing in his home shop that he does at the dealership. If I can not fix the problem he will do it for a lot less then the dealership, I know they have overhead but I can't help them with that. My wife’s Cavalier was running really bad, I put a new gas filter on back by the tank, a pain in the butt still running bad. I took it to my friend $50 after I bought an oxygen sensor runs fine now, and the check engine light went off.

Richard