My factory pump is doing good, but I have a Bosch waiting to. Never know when they might decide to stop making them.

 

Generally with parts like the fuel pump I only replace when they fail.

But it is not a bad idea to ride around with some O-rings (large variety) some battery cable ends, and of course some tools.

It would suck to be stuck over night on the side of the road or have to have one towed, or wait on a taxi to take you just to get an O-ring for an injector or to get a battery cable end.

But like I said, if you're out a long ways from home and something big breaks just say "f**k", then hope you can get to a parts store and hope you can get it fixed. Yes, I have really bad anxiety over this but I try my best to not to think about it.

 

If it's not broke, don't fix it. Is it making noise? Sometimes the fuel pump will get loud, before it gives up the ghost. Also, the fuel cools the pump, so I'd keep the tank at least 1/4 full. If you run the tank dry afew times, you'll shorten the life of the pump. If you feel you must replace it, consider the ZJ fuel tank up grade (1997-2001). It will give you an extra 3 gallons of fuel. Also, like others mentioned, replace it with the Bosch unit.

 

I had one give out a growling sound and then just die in a total running time of 10 hours.

It was bought years ago and I always buy quality parts now.
So I don't know what el cheapo brand.

 

Always, unless there is no other reasonable alternative. I also cut reman parts out of the work that I do.

If a customer insists on using their cheap parts, I tell them to go somewhere else. When they rip on a vehicle for how crappy it is because it is on their third fuel pump, well, first of all it's probably a bad diagnosis in the first place and second of all those aftermarket parts are garbage and is not the fault of the vehicle manufacturer.

Every now and then, you get the cheap part and it works really well for a long time. Case in point, I bought a cheap wheel bearing for my Jeep about 10 years ago. It's still working great.