50k fuel pump cleaning

[etschell]

i was recommended this today when i got an oil change because my car is just at 50000 miles. is it a big deal if i do this at 53000 instead of 50?

[telcoman]

i was recommended this today when i got an oil change because my car is just at 50000 miles. is it a big deal if i do this at 53000 instead of 50?

etschell

You didn't mention who exactly is recomending a fuel pump cleaning but to me it sounds like a scam?

I checked the warranty and service schedule for my 06 for both the 45k and 60k mile service and no where is a fuel pump cleaning service mentioned.I also dug out my FSM volume 2, section FL and read up on the fuel pump.The fuel pump, fuel level sensor unit, pressure regulator & fuel filter are all part of one unit located in the fuel tank. Access is by removing the rear seat. Any disassembly requires replacement of O rings and the manual cautions not reusing them. I doubt if an independent shop would have the correct ones?

You can do a search o this site for the FSM for your vehicle and read up on it. After reading all the cautions in the manual on this procedure I would leave this for a dealer to perform. I doubt if this would be necessary at even 100k miles? If the fuel pump ever should fail then thats the time to replace the whole unit including the fuel filter.

If there is nothing wrong with your vehicle leave well enough alone and as they say in Brooklyn, faagetabout it.

Never try to fix anything that isn't broke. Just my $.02

Telcoman

[etschell]

thanks telco, it was the person at jiffy lube. said it was manufacturer recommend but they wanted 80 and i was going to decline anyways. got my synthetic done for 67 bucks today though with a coupon.

[telcoman]

thanks telco, it was the person at jiffy lube. said it was manufacturer recommend but they wanted 80 and i was going to decline anyways. got my synthetic done for 67 bucks today though with a coupon.

Jiffy Lube is one of the worst places to go for service

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJjqr0QbIk

Too many scams.

One of my co workers took a company vehicle to a Jiffy Lube for an oil change a few years ago and got the same pitch as you did.

They were unable to remove a fuel filter on a GMC truck and gave up.Shortly thereafter back on the road the fuel line burst due to damage stranding a co worker.

I do all my own oil changes.

Telcoman

[SteveTheTech]

Did they happen to tell you what they were going to do for eighty of your hard earned dollars? There is no recommended factory service on the fuel system other than a periodic fuel line inspection. I would think about it at over 100k and only if i used cheap gas then maybe the fuel strainer may be replaced. It is not a common maintenance item.

[Jacko3]

etschell:

I would rather drive my car with old oil up to 4,000 miles than do anything with Jiffy lube, Pep boys, etc. These guys are generalists. The G 35, like so many other cars out there, like the BMW, Mercedes, Mitsubishi Evo, are not cars you should send to generalists. You take them to specialists becasue of some unsual state of their designs. Heck, some infiniti techs who have been working on Infinitis for a long time, can't even figure out why these cars behave the way they do. How much less a generalist at Jiffy lube, pep boys, etc.

Like Telcoman said, if it ain't broke, then leave it alone. The G only needs brake change, diff fluid change, transmission fluid change, oil change, air filter change, for the most part.

[Kendahl]

There are two problems with quick oil change places.

The first is that they are at the bottom of the pile in terms of technical proficiency of their employees. Some shops carefully train their employees, but many don't. Either way, they are not fully trained mechanics and are not qualified for anything beyond oil and filter changes.

The second is that, to pad their sales, they peddle all kinds of crap. Too many customers are taken advantage of because they don't recognize the crap for what it is. At best, the crap is simply a waste of money. At worst, it causes damage that has to be repaired by a competent shop, usually at the customer's expense.

I've never heard of cleaning a fuel pump. This is just more of their crap. Unless the pump breaks, all you should ever need to do is replace the fuel filters (there may be more than one). Do this as specified in the service schedule. If you get a tank of dirty gas, you might have to replace the tank filter early, but that's all.

[EZcheese15]

There are two problems with quick oil change places.

The first is that they are at the bottom of the pile in terms of technical proficiency of their employees. Some shops carefully train their employees, but many don't. Either way, they are not fully trained mechanics and are not qualified for anything beyond oil and filter changes.

The second is that, to pad their sales, they peddle all kinds of crap. Too many customers are taken advantage of because they don't recognize the crap for what it is. At best, the crap is simply a waste of money. At worst, it causes damage that has to be repaired by a competent shop, usually at the customer's expense.

I've never heard of cleaning a fuel pump. This is just more of their crap. Unless the pump breaks, all you should ever need to do is replace the fuel filters (there may be more than one). Do this as specified in the service schedule. If you get a tank of dirty gas, you might have to replace the tank filter early, but that's all.

Modern cars don't even have replaceable fuel filters either. With most cars that use a returnless fuel system, the filter is integrated into the pump assembly.

And Jiffy Lube is a joke. I can tell you, sadly, as a former employee of Jiffy Lube (freshman year of college, but I quit due to the fact they were all dumbasses), they make up random crap all the time. They have no training, other than to try and upsell as many services as they can. There is probably one car out there that had a clogged fuel pump that they had one time, so this is reason for them to try to sell this service on all cars going forward. It's a huge scam.

I read through my maintenance manual on my G and if you look at just the required services, the only thing between new and 120k miles is oil changes, and air filter changes. Everything else just says to inspect. Now I'll probably change things like gear oil and diff oil, but that's just because I want to, not because it needs it.

[SteveTheTech]

That's the honest truth, I spent the better part of a year in the pit, when I was in high school. It is not the worse job to get your feet wet in, it does suck to do everyday though. When I was there there was maybe five minutes of training, I remember telling the "manager" how to perform certain maintenance items. They are not trained as far as I know in anything more that spiffing cars for anything they can from the aftermarket fluid guys (BG and Wynns). I can't tell you how many new air filters I have thrown away because they fall apart prematurely, and their off brand oil filter can leak. The drain plug gaskets they use are a joke too, Infiniti uses single use copper crush washers, its not something to gamble with in my opinion. Most dealers are actually comparably priced and use at the least semi-synthetic oil.