Fuel Pump?

[Brent]

Hi again, everyone.

When it rains, it poors.

My car was low on gas, I was running it on my driveway and it stopped. I assumed that it had completely run out, so I added some old gas I had. It still wouldn't start, so I got some good gas off a neighbour, no dice.

So I took off the fuel lines at the top of the engine, started the car, and nothing came out. I figured this meant it was the fuel pump, took the seat out, and messed around with the pump for a minute. Then the car started, fuel flew out of the lines, so I put it all back together, and it cut out after about 10 seconds after I started it again. It hasn't started since, even though I wiggled every wire I could.

Does this mean the pump is finished?

Thanks again,

Brent

[Ceeker]

most likely your pump or your pressure regulator. what you probably did was wiggle the wiring so power was restored to the pump to get it to work again. So it could be wiring. recheck the wiring for any breaks or exposed wire first. Check the connection going to the fuel pump too. if this fails it is most likely the pump packed it in.

[W2WDETAILING]

probl the pump mine would do this 2 once i got ****ed in a mall parking lot i towed the car home and it started right up...fml changed the pump no problemo since

[Brent]

Ok, so I got the car running again...for reference I thought I'd go through the steps I took in case anyone else has trouble cold starting their car or it runs, then shuts off:

1). checked to see if there was enough gas (I know, very basic, but I'm sure we've all missed an obvious step when fixing something).
2). pulled off the fuel lines by the regulator, and tried to start the car. If gas shoots out of the lines, the fuel pump is working. In my case, no gas was coming out.
3). took the fuse for the fuel pump out, and tried to start the car a couple off times. My friend gave me this advice to clear the lines or take pressure off them. Also I opened the gas tank cap.
4). the fuel pump is under the backseat on the passenger side of the car on my car. I accessed it, unbolted one section and removed it, then turned it counter clockwise slightly and removed it.
5). I then took the fuel pump and connected it with some spare wires to the battery. It came to life, so I knew the pump was working. I had to guess the positive and negative. So now I knew it was not the pump but the wiring (thanks, Ceeker).
6). put it all back together, really paying close attention to the wires and connections. At this point I had re connected the fuel lines, and put the fuse back in. The car started right up fortunately. My best guess is that it was a connection at the fuel pump.

Sorry for the long post, but this seems like a fairly common occurance so I thought I'd add my 2 cents. I hope this helps somebody!

Brent

[Ceeker]

Brent, make sure the wires are securely attached to the pump and that they don't have any chance of wiggling around to recreate the same problem again. Thanks for posting. and you're welcome!!! :-)

[bimmer30]

you can usually hear the fuel pump prime when your key is in the on position but still nice to know but did you hear the fuel pump prime when key in the on position before checking the wires?

[everlast]

You can always 'jump' the fuel pump relay to listen to it too. It's odd that it died when you ran out of fuel. It could be you sucked up some gunk and spit it into the fuel filter, clogging it too, and perhaps the additional back pressure required more current. Bad connections would then fail when they'd otherwise worked.

You might want to hit all the connections at the pump with emery paper (or sand paper) to clean them up.

[Brent]

Everlast, the fuel filter getting clogged was exactly what it was. After the car started up no problem, it went back to not starting smoothly, so I replaced the fuel filter and now it's working 100%. Thanks!

[everlast]

Awesome dude.