ACURA3.2TL

FUEL PUMP PROBLEMS 98 ACURA 3.2 TL<U></U> (Before I start I would like to thank you for your consideration in helping me with this problem!!)
***Due to the ridiculous & constant rise of petro, I have not filled the tank up, let alone halfway up- in about a year now..***

PROBLEM: So recently I filled her up with super premium gas, & had one hell of a air conditioned- high speed , good time! Well when the dreaded E<U></U>[mpty] had been reached the car decides that in mid transit it's going to die. {& It Did} I hit the flashers, coasted onto the shoulder, & restarted it. No Problem drove home with no issues..........Over the span of the next week in a half, the car died randomly several times while I was driving. Until the last time it happened. Only this time it ain't going to start back up..........

Well after checking my relays, fuses, & consulting my owners manual I have narrowed it down to the Fuel Pump. [I THINK??] I physically crawled off into the trunk & listened for the Fuel Pump to engage-you know that sound. Yeah, its dead as Latin......

HOW DO I GO ABOUT FIXXING THIS THING?!?!<U></U>
Could you please tell me if the fuel pump is in the gas tank, & if so how difficult is it to get to. What should I do to fix it? As in any special steps or tricks of the trade I should know about. Tips or Pointers perhaps? And is there anything else that I am going to have to replace or do to my fuel system in conjunction to this problem??
Thanks so much! Anything helps at this point!


Modified by ACURA3.2TL at 3:46 AM 11/15/2007

Kenso

The main relay is fairly notorious for failing and causing a problem similar to what you describe. You might want to look into that before you jump into fuel pump replacement (unless you decide for sure that's the problem).

twistedriver

+1 on the main relay. Your main relay is located on the drive side under the dash board. I think is a large gray relay with larger gauge wires coming out of it. Try tapping it to see if the car start. If it starts after smacking it then is the relay for sure. Another way to check it is to listen for the click inside the relay. If the relay is faulty it would will not click. If the fuel pump failed your relay will still click.

ACURA3.2TL

Hi. Hey Thank you for taking time to look into my, problem. I am certainly going to look into the relay and any noises that it may or may not be making. Of course my car is still sitting in the parking garage at work on the 7th level, so come morning I will scrounge a ride to my car and jump all over it!!! Look while I got your attention let me just tell you that I spent 7 hours on my birthday (nov25) under that car trying like hell to drop my gas tank so that I could install the new pump, filter, & proprietary components.....Dude?! What it the magic trick to dropping that tank? Im a fairly intelligent chick- no "mechanic", but We own a 99' GSXR 750 and no garage, I do ALL my own maintenance and have already rebuilt it once. So I actually DO have a pretty good clue about tinkering on things.
Anyway appreciate all your help! Take it easy, ACURA3.2TL

JRSC01GS-R

are u sure u have to drop the tank to replace fuel pump? in my teg i was able to access the top of the tank from under the back seats, hopefully this helps

YeuEmMaiMai

98+ TL access panel is in the trunk, pull up that there carpet and you will see the access plate for the fuel pump

tre-day83

iTrader: (2)

cant access the pump through the car only outside by dropping the tank but cant figure out how to get the tank dropped even after we removed plastic shield and the 2 straps but doesnt even feel like it is loose

tre-day83

iTrader: (2)

need help asap before dark

cstone

Hey guys, sorry to bring this post back from the dead but I didn't want to start a new thread for what seems to be the same problem.

I'll start with a little background. I have a 98 3.2 TL, we have had nothing but problems with this car since we bought it. First the timing belt broke less than a week after we got it. This bent EVERY valve so we had to have the valve train rebuilt. We got it back and it ran great. Then all of a sudden about 3 weeks later we noticed that the engine started running like crap and that it would not rev above 4500 RPMs, it also did not seem to want to shift properly. We traced this problem down to a vacuum hose on the TB that was torn. We replaced the hose and it ran great once again... for about 2 and a half months or so.... Last week we took the car out for a drive and stopped by a couple of stores, after our last stop I started the car and it fired right up but immediately died. I went to restart it and it would crank but not fire. I noticed that the check engine light was dimly lit with the key in the on position kind of like the battery was dead (although it was still cranking just fine and the other dash lights were as bright as normal.) There was also a slight buzzing sound coming from behind the gauge cluster. After a few tries I got the car to start again and made it about half a mile down the road when the car stalled. I pulled over, and it took me even longer to get it started the next time. It continued this way with the car only making it about 200 feet each time I managed to get it started. The last time it died it took me about 15-20 minutes to finally get the car to start again, this time it made it all the way home (about 6-700 more feet.) I pulled it into the garage and shut it off, I tried restarting it again and it fired up no problem and remained running for 5 minutes at which point I shut the car off. After some online research I decided that it sounded like I had a bad main relay so I ordered a new main relay assembly. Anyways, I got some time to install the relay today (what a PITA for anyone who hasn't done it before.) Once I got the new relay installed I tried to start the car, and it fired right away but immediately died. After it died I tried to restart it for about 5 minutes with no luck. The weird thing is, however that the check engine light is no longer lit and the sound is no longer coming from behind the cluster. I tried to listen to see if the fuel pump is working but it is so windy here tonight that I couldn't tell.

My question is, how loud would the fuel pump be and where is the best place to listen for it at? In the trunk or the back seat? I am pretty sure that I can hear the relay clicking but there are so many of them in that area that I can't be sure. Am I missing anything else here that I should be checking? Any ideas or advice that you have would be greatly appreciated! I have dumped WAY too much money into this car already and honestly just want to get it running again so that I can sell it. I have exhausted my savings on this car and no longer have the extra money to throw parts at it. Thank you in advance!

civichxtreme2

The best place to hear the fuel pump would be to take the fuel filler cap off and stick your ear up to it. But it kinda sounds like maybe an ECU issue, Something isnt right in there, If your fuel pump were that bad it wouldnt start a majority of the time, let alone stay running. But Good Luck

cstone

Yeah I think you may be on to something there. It seems to be working fine again all of a sudden, the ECU makes sense for something that would have intermittent problems like this. And I would think the fuel pump would make it stumble a lot more instead of just dieing (when it died it acted pretty much like I turned the key off, with no stumble at all.) Anyways, I think that I am done spending time or money on this car. I might go talk to my mechanic and get his opinion, but I think it is probably time to find someone who doesn't mind doing a little bit of work to a car.

Thank you for your help!

antdowg105

I just replaced a fuel pump on a 1996 32TL . I read online that the pump had an access panel behind the rear seat on the passenger side. There was an access panel but when I took it off guess what ? no pump only the float for the fuel gauge . Had to drop the tank. Took off protective cover removed straps and wondered why the tank did not come down . Double sided tape or what ever Acura uses to hold the tank up is very good at it's job. Had to remove the rear seat and remove one of the little plugs and using a wedge of some sort and a 5 lb sledge hammer I was able to break the bond. Once u hear the first pop u can pull it down real easy.