As Mr. Wind suggests, the tank pump could be the problem, but may also be the first casualty of another problem: old, nasty gas and the trouble it can cause for tanks and the fuel system in general.

I'm afraid that after sitting in the tank for a couple of years there is more varnish left of your gas than fuel. When you put your ear to the filler neck to listen for the tank pump, I would expect your nose also to experience a whole new ten-foot-stick meaning for the word "nasty." You probably wouldn't recognize the color of it, either: by now it may be a rusty, sickly pea green soup.

What is amazing is that a car might actually run with gas like that for a while. (Ask me how I know this!, Or, see earlier thread "1982 245 Hot Soak issue 200.") What my earlier experience leads me to believe is that a car running on fuel like that is a car running on borrowed time. As nasty a mess as that is living in your tank, it's a relatively tame mess so long as it stays confined to your tank. The trouble begins when it starts to move downstream into your pumps and filters. And that trouble may continue, if what you have is a rusting tank, as a rusting tank is relentless in regenerating rust. Really.

The best course would have been to first drain and flush the tank. Eyes on the tank--and what came out of it--could have seen the rust. But, no one volunteers for that job, as there's no good place to put what you find in a tank like that. (See ten-foot-stick odor, above.)

There are effective treatments for rusting tanks and decent used tanks are available. If the problem you have is the problem I think you have, either solution would save you lots of other trouble.

Good luck with it!