Pontiac Repair: Sunfire cranking but not starting, pontiac sunfire gt, fuel pump relay

Question
Howdy!
I have a 1996 Pontiac Sunfire GT Coupe with the 2.4 liter engine. Last week, the car ran out of gas while the gauge read that I still had a 1/4 of a tank (Fuel sending unit issues?) I did manage to get the car fired up again and drive about 30 miles home. I then replaced the fuel filter since logic would dictate that a fuel tank out of gas would suck up all of the junk from the bottom of the tank and clog the filter. I let the car idle for about 10 minutes and then drove it around for about 10 miles to make sure things were running right. Everything seemed okay. The next day, I started the car fine and let it warm up for about 5 minutes. Started heading off to work and only made it about 1/2 mile before the engine shut off. Car would not start again. The car just cranks and cranks, but it sounds like the engine is just not getting gas?? I tried hitting the gas tank with a mallet and the fuel pump never turned on. I hear nothing from the fuel pump under any circumstances. I've had several people tell me that when a car runs out of gas it's a common occurence to have the fuel pump go out. I don't know if that's true or not, but my symptoms are certainly leaning me in that direction. I don't want to just throw money at the problem until I know what the problem is. Checker/O'Reilly's told me to check for continuity at the fuel pump relay and again, back at the wiring harness. I have 12 volts at the relay, but only 5 volts at the harness connection, regardless of whether or not the relay is in place. I do most of the work on my car myself, but I'm certainly no genius when it comes to the wiring/schematics. I'm at a complete loss as to what to do with this problem. Any suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated as I'm just frustrated with this car. Thanks!!

Answer
Hey kent:

Yup it does happen from time to time. that fuel pump assembly in that model car is problematic to say the least so running it out of gas may have overheated the pump and now you have this issue. take a look at the tank harness and locate the grey wire and the heavery black wire in that harness where it plugs into the bottom of the floor board. those are the fuel pump wires. use a tes light and go across those to terminals have someone turn the key to run the lamp should light for about a second then go out. have someone then crank the car while it's cranking the lamp should be on once the key is turned back to run the lmap will go out. if the lamp lights bright you need a new pump assembly and I'm sure it will light up. do not get any other pump other then original equipment AC Delco. all the others are JUNK! especially Wells/ampco or Cardone or holley. ONLY USE original equipment.... You can go the easy way out with this http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-DELCO-FUEL-PUMP-MODULE-ASSEMBLY-REPAIR-KIT-MU1779-/38 But then you will still have a fuel gauge issue as well if youy get the complete module it will come with the fuel level sensor.
good luck :)