Yesterday I changed my fuel filter. I was told to pull the fuel pump fuse, turn the car on and that would take care of the pressuerized fuel in the line. So I did that, installed the new filter, conected everything tightly, replaced the fuse and started her up. It caught first time and everything seemed fine.
Drove from Oshawa to TO last night. No problem. Left for work this morning and it would’nt start. The car had sat for about 4.5 hours. I tried over 15 times to get it started. It struggled like it was starved for fuel. I had to end up push starting it and that worked and everything was fine.
Got to my surveillance site in Hamilton, shut the car off for about 45mins and again it would’nt start. I tried to push the car on to the road but kept slipping on the gravel. Basiclly tried to rock the car back and forth, after trying another 20x to start it, but only moved it about a foot. Then I tried to just start the car once more and it caught first time. Did rocking the car do something?
Sorry for the novel but I wanted to say everything that lead up to this point.
WTF? Has anyone had this happen to them?
Plugs are 2 months old, wires are still good, starter is fine, battery is fine, checked all the fuse’s and there fine, no vacum line leaks, MAS is conected properly, had 3/4 of a tank of gas. Once the car starts it’s fine so I can’t figure it out. By now there would be no air in the lines either. My friend seems to think it’s either the fuel pump relay or the pump wiring.
The car sat all afternoon and I just tried to start it and it fired up first time. I think at the very least it’s an intermitent problem which may mean wiring or a faulty relay.
Maybe you didn’t push the pump fuse all the way back in?
Next time the car won’t start see if you can hear the fuel pump turning on when you turn the car to ‘on’ (but not start). Should sound like a whirring sound coming from the trunk …
According to your post, the car runs normal after push-starting it so it’s got air/fuel/compression/spark. That’s more than half the troubleshooting right there.
I would start with the starter motor. Check first of all that it’s working. Second, when you push started it, it MIGHT have thrown the starter out of allignment, and the gears are not catching properly. Get the car up on stands, or on a hoist if you’ve got access to one, and make sure that the starter is catching the flywheel teeth properly when trying to start. Get a friend to crank the engine while you’re under there inspecting the thing.
A couple more things just to double-check with you to eliminate some problem areas:
Does the engine crank? (I know you said yes, just double-checking again to be 100% certain)
If YES to #1, what speed (RPM) is it cranking at compared to before the problem happened? Slower? Faster?
What noise is made when the engine is cranked? Normal start-up noise? Grinding noise?
Are all the fuses in good condition?
Is the battery light on when the car is on? What is the voltage on the battery when the car is off/on, and to what voltage does it drop when being cranked? (Hopefully you or a friend have a voltmeter to test this one. I doubt it’s your battery, though. Check it to be sure anyways. We’re trying to eliminate the problems.)
The start up noise is normal. The starter is working properly but I will see if it’s off a little. The battery is fine. I do have a squeeking altenator belt that I’ll replace maybe today. The battery charges around 14.1 to 14.3 so it’s fine. Engine crank speed seems fine and idle speed is bang on too. The engine sounds normal at start up and idle.
I have’nt tried starting up this morning yet. I’ll post after I try.
Yep! It fired right up as normal. I did replace some of the relays and maybe it was that. My buddy pillfered all of the ones from the fuse box in the engine bay of a 240 that we stripped for parts.
So for now, it appears that the problem has gone away. If it happens again I’ll let you know.
Well it happened again! I did a bit more trouble shooting myself and I discovered it is the fuel pump. At least Im about 99% sure.
I figured it was that after I attempted to push start the car and despite rolling at over 30km, dumping the clutch in second, it sputtered and would not stay running even when I pumped the gas a little.
After checking that power is going to the pump, using a test light, and a little banging on the tank it caught.
Apparently doing that is an old mechanic’s trick. It must have been an intermitent problem with pump and now it finally decided to die.
I thought I’d mention this just in case anyone else ever has a similar problem.
Let’s hope that when I replace the pump tommorow that everthing is fine. (fingers crossed)
Hopefully it’s an easy job to do. Anyone done it before? If so, how envolved is it? It looks fairly easy to do and easy to access from the panel in the trunk. Any help would most appreciated.
If your fuel pump is dead, replace it with a Walboro 255L/h unit. It will
save you that extra piece of work when it comes time for your SR or RB
or what have you.
