I broke down at a stop light today, ran the problem down to a blown fuel fuse under the hood. I replaced the fuse and it blew out as soon as i turned on the key. I jumped the fuse with a small piece of wire and the fuel pump relay is making spark sounds from inside, not a click but definitely a crackling noise. It might seem obvious but is the relay bad? Had to get the truck towed home, am going to fix tomorrow. Thanks for any info you might have!

 

Yes replace the fuel pump relay.
It is totally toast from the sounds of it.

 

My gut reaction is no, it is not the relay but the pump. If you blow fuses and then try over loading the relay, sure you will fry the relay. Either the pump has failed or you have a wire harness short.

 

I replaced the relay unit with a used one and still doing the same thing. I then pulled the fuel pump and tested, works fine. Are there any other components that could cause this problem? I looked up the system on the rave cd and it says that there is a small fuel relay behind the right side kick panel, is there on a 98?

 

If it says so in the RAVE then it is so.