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So in my other thread, I changed the spark plugs and air filter, then the car wouldn't start. Turned out(I thought) to be the main fuel relay by the steering column. I drove the car Friday evening and Saturday till we went to a cookout. When I tried to leave Sat evening, it would not start again. I had gone to a scrap yard Sat morning and grabbed some relays, but swapping them didn't help any. What should I look for next? Are there any schematics hosted here on-site? I'm not against changing the fuel pump, but from what I've read, they are pretty reliable.
So I swapped out the fuel filter since it's got 110k miles. I knew it wasn't the culprit, but felt it should be done since I have no clue of the maintenance history. Wow, what a pita that was. I didn't have the 14mm crows foot line wrench so I made one. Not sure why it took so much torque to remove(yeah its been in the same spot for 26yrs) but I hope it'll be easier next time.
Still looking into why the main relay doesn't always kick on the in-tank pump.
Does it just crank with no start?? If so i would look in to the ecu or tcu if applied. My pump would not tirn on for minutes like 2-23 with key on than fire right up
Not sure yet. I just got my troubleshooting book, so I will be able to run down the issue soon. Sometimes the fuel relay kicks on, sometimes it doesn't, or it takes a min to kick on. I grabbed some spare relays from a scrap yard and touched up the solder contacts on the pub, but those didn't work any better.
My in tank fuel pump not turning on is intermittent, so it will take a bit to figure out what is going on. As stated, the guy I got it from had dropped the fuel tank at one point, but everything seems to be OK so far. I pulled the rear seat to verify the ground and make sure there were no hacked up wires. I also left the trim piece out so it can check for voltage if I encounter another no start.
As a aside, has anyone put a small subwoofer box in this space? Seems like it's screaming for a kicker 6 or 8 inch sub!
So in my searching for info, I saw it posted that an older relay might have weak springs. Not sure how that would apply here, but I decided to try a new main relay anyway. The new main relay has no moving parts! Its all ICs! Anyone ever use one?