ThrillaKilla

Ok well this is the story, my car has seemed to run fine from the moment i got it, but every now and then it wont start, or more commonly it will start and then die like 2 seconds later without even properly idling for a second.. well i just got home from work and today it has been much worse than ever... THREE times it died on the freeway.. but it does not completely die it like just stopps getting fuel. My RPMs stay the same because its in gear but when i press the gas all i hear is that throaty intake sound with no fuel combustion.. well after i finally get it home i shut it off, and try starting it just to see how things are going, of course it starts then dies instantly again... this is really pissing me off now because thats pretty much the most unreliable thing a car can do, you expect (hope) it works then it doesnt and leaves you stranded or waiting on the side of the freeway for your car to start... if i wait like 10 minutes it will usually start ok then idle very low.... OK ive assumed for some time now that its bad fuel pressure, so help me narrow it down to what i need to replace... #1 fuel pump, 2 fuel filter, 3 possibly injectors, 4 bad pressure regulator... other than that i cant really think of anything... it problem is much worse if i put shitty gas in compared to 92 octane, but today when it died persistantly i had 92 octane gas in the tank???... please help me out guys i need to get this fixed asap..... thanks in advance

Jimmy

iTrader: (5)

Main Relay..pull it out and look at it

fulldragcrx

yea i would ckeck the main relay also. do more testing before replacing anything. dont just guess its the fuel pump with out proving it. leaves more money for mods.

raene

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by USDMDC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Main Relay..pull it out and look at it</TD></TR></TABLE>

ThrillaKilla

sorry for sounding new, but when checking the main relay that would be the fuse box under the hood right...like the ecu relay? am i just looking for corrosion? thanks again

raene

I don't know where it's located on your car. On my car, the main relay is a small box with a clip connecting it to the wiring harness and it resides under the dash on the driver's side. It's hard to get to and would cost about $50 USD to replace... I didn't bother checking it, I just replaced mine. Car hasn't had any problems since

ThrillaKilla

hmm well what does this thing look like? perhaps ill look into replacing mine... your had the same problems?? what causes them to fault.. corrosion? ive been doing a little reasearch... could the ignitor have anything to do with the problem...? another thing i do to start it when i really need to (ex. stranded in middle lane of freeway) is spray some starting fluid in my intake filter... sometimes it works but most the time i just hear that grinding sound from the starter and the idle steadly drops 3k,2k,1k then dies or just idles normally like something has turned on as a result of the engine turning... compression starting doesnt even work sometimes.. it will if i have a big hill and leave it in second eventually but sometimes it takes some time... thanks again guys


Modified by ThrillaKilla at 4:05 AM 12/18/2003


Modified by ThrillaKilla at 9:53 AM 12/18/2003

raene

The main relay will click on when the ignition is turned on. If the relay is failing, sometimes it will fail to click on after starting and your car will slowly starve for fuel (the pump won't have turned on) and die. That's probably what happens when you're in the middle of the freeway. I had a problem where the idle was set too low in combination with a bad main relay, so my car would stall every now and again, and the relay was bad so it wouldn't want to start again. I broke down and replaced it sometime after stalling in the center of a large intersection and blocking traffic through an entire light cycle because I couldn't get the freaking thing started again.

fulldragcrx

whoa starting fluid, we use that in our diesel tow trucks. Man i bet that thing revs to 8 grand and knocks like a mother when started. try carb cleaner other than starting fluid.

mattssi

The amin relay will say MAIN on it, and it isnt that hard to get to, just look under the divers side of the dash and look towards the fender! It is usually brown in color and has only one long 12 pin connector going into it! Just replace it and i think it should solve your problems!

ThrillaKilla

thanks i just bought one online. .. i understand what your saying about how it will start up and die it does that frequently now... but sometimes it will start up, idle very very low, sometimes to where you can actually hear the combustion sequences lol, and then work its way over and jump up to like 1k rpm (idle) thats why i thought it was fuel pump, pumping but not quite pumping enough... thanks again


btw: its synthetic based starting fluid and it only revs to like 2k no knocks, one time i got really pissed and unloaded in my filter and it revved to like 3.5k lol


Modified by ThrillaKilla at 8:03 PM 12/18/2003

ThrillaKilla

ok well i just kind of figured out whats wrong... if i turn my keys to the on position i sometimes hear fuel pumping, kind of a pumping hissing noise from the front drivers fender area, well if i dont hear this noise, this is when my car fails to start, and eventually i will hear it squeal (only recently probably going bad or died) and start up. Now to my understanding the main relay wouldnt make this noise... so theres an in-tank fuel pump and another one.. is this one located by the fender up there somewhere, and by telling you these things do you also think its the fuel pump?

NitrousB.I.G.

Just for a test you could install a test light on the main power wire that goes to the fuel pump. That way you know for sure that its the fuel pump quitting and that should only take a few minutes ans could save you hours. I had a similar problem and this trick saved me a lot of time.

raene

There's only 1 fuel pump AFAIK, and that's an in-tank pump. If you're hearing correctly and what you described is as you said, then yes, I'd start implicating the pump, but without hearing the noise for myself - ie being in the car - it's hard to say for sure.

ThrillaKilla

yeah well im pretty sure... sometimes i hear it squealing like struggling to push fuel through or something... but if its in the tank why would i be hearing it up in the front of the car?