Threw a $30 fuel pump at my $900 Ranger instead of the $400 one, took me 3 weekends to admit I was wrong

Jason Scott · 2026-10-11T14:10:04.639297+00:00

So I picked up this 1994 Ranger for $900 off a guy in Modesto who swore it just needed a fuel filter. Swapped the filter in 20 minutes, truck still died going up hills. My buddy keeps telling me to drop the tank and put in a real Delphi pump but I'm cheap and figured I'd try the $30 inline pump off Amazon first. That turned into three full weekends of me crawling under that truck, rerouting fuel line with hose clamps, blowing fuses, and once almost catching my sleeve on fire near the manifold. Turns out the $30 pump couldn't push enough pressure past 40 mph so the truck was leaning out the whole time. Finally caved and got the proper in-tank pump for $78 at Napa and had it running right in an afternoon. I used to think anyone paying shop prices for a fuel pump was getting robbed, now I get why guys just pay the $400 and move on with their lives. Anyone got a trick for dropping a Ranger tank solo without a jack and two sketchy blocks of wood?

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Threw a $30 fuel pump at my $900 Ranger instead of the $400 one, took me 3 weekends to admit I was wrong | Cars Under 5k - Rigidtalk