I have a 2004 Tribute that was driving me crazy. The darn thing would always crank but occasionally not start till 3 or so hours later. After replacing some smaller part and having no success I replaced the gas pump. The car only had 80k on it. After 2 months I haven't had any problems. Car starts and runs great...at least for now.

 

Hey I just had a similar problem with a 2004 Mazda tribute. It would run fine usually, and i would go to the store, run in and when i came out it wouldnt start. I could sit there and crank and crank for hours and nothing. then later it would randomly start up again. I even had the car towed home and let it sit overnight and it would start up later on.

Turns out it was the fuel pump starting to fail. It didnt fail all the time but ever once in a while it would fail and then come back. Not sure how it did that or why but i replaced the fuel pump myself and havent had the problem again.

It is an easy fix and i dont know a tremendous amount about cars. If you lift up the drivers side rear seat then there is a hatch that lets you access the top of the fuel tank. A new fuel pump can be swapped out through this hatch.

hope this helps!

 

Hi Terraticus,
Thanks for sharing what you did to rectify the issue with yourtribute. Mine started acting up this last december.
I will attempt to replace mine too. Was it easy to detach the pump from the tank? Does it just sit or float on gas inside the tank? Nothing else need to be done after new pump is installed?

BTW how did you know it was the fuel pump because it could be number of things, EGR, ECT, fuel filter, crank or crankshaft sensors, IAC valve, air filter, DFPE sensor, ignition coils, air mass meter, oxygen sense, etc.?

 

Once I replaced the fuel pump the problem was fixed. Haven't had a problem with it since. Honestly I didn't know if it was the fuel pump or not. I was fed up with it and decided to take a risk. I think the new fuel pump was only 120-150$.

It is actually a ridiculously easy fix. There is a hatch under the back seat in the drivers side. Open that hatch and the top of the fuel tank is right there! Unscrew the cap (this was the hardest part, I had to tap it with a hammer and screw driver because it an awkward location to try to get a good grip on) Once you've got cap off just swap out the pump and put the cap and hatch back on.

Hopefully this fixes your problem. Like I said before it fixed mine totally! Let me know how it goes and if you have any questions.

Cheers

 

I'm off all this week. I hope rain stops pouring here in northern cal. I don't have a garage but if weather gets in the way i will have my mechanic do it for me.
Did you have to pull a relay before you start working on it? I watched it on youtube how to uninstall a fuel pump and he pulled a couple of them.