%^##^**!!!

Started the car, hot, no issues, drive it 15 miles in traffic with a few lights, get where I'm going, shut it off, wait a second, turn key and it fires right up as normal. I think my car is mocking me! On the plus side I got some info for the intercooler thread...

Edit: F it, I've ordered an OEM relay from Pelican with fingers crossed. Nothing worse than an unreliable car unless it's an unreliable car you REALLY don't want to have towed! $10 in shipping for a $20 part is a bit crazy though geez.

 

the good news is given how educated a guess that f pump relay is, i'd say 30 bucks to eliminate it is a good thing. I'm just glad I'm 20 miles away from pelican. i'm a regular lol

gl man.. thats probably "it".

 

I really truly hope so, I also hope they can get it here quicker than the 30th as they currently have promised

Tonight on the way home I joked with my friends that I might have to call them from the side of the road - that was stupid of me. I was more than halfway home buzzing along at about 70+ and checking out the intercooler exit temps that were right at ambient after a quick pull when suddenly I had no gas pedal. I ended up on the side of a VERY busy highway for about 10-15mins before it would restart. I quickly got over to the right lane on restart and got a few miles further. Rinse and repeat when I got off of the highway with me kicking the fuse panel cover and gritting my teeth a total of FIVE times! Stress? nah!

Finally across the way from my street it died where I could coast into a small lighted parking lot safely. I grabbed the flashlight and pressure gauge and screwed it into the test port - ZERO pressure. Cranked the car for a good 30 seconds, 5PSI tops. Waited a few minutes and the little ***** fired up and ran long enough for me to get into the garage and shut it down - whew!

I need to be able to drive this 3+ straight hours so this is VERY uncool! However the zero pressure is helpful, I know that this isn't an ignition issue and I've examined the hoses in-tank. Irish is getting his fuel system done and will have a stock VDO pump available so I'm hoping to get my hands on it and swap it in as well as do the pump relay. I've seen mention that there's TWO relays? Can anyone confirm? Pelican listed just the one and I'm getting a Porsche OEM one with fingers crossed. It's still remotely possible this is a badly clogged fuel filter but I really think it's not since power simply cuts off. I hate troubleshooting intermittents but this is getting regular enough I think it'll be something I can solve. Nothing worse than a car you cannot count on!

P.S. How come no one sells just the silly VDO pump by itself? It pops right in, replacing all of the octopus as a module seems silly although it does seem to age poorly...

 

ya get props from me for even trying it before swapping the relay, esp because you know what you're doing. me, i'd have just been stuck. when my stuff goes south i gotta wait for my bud whose on friggin retainer lol with the wrenches who makes twice monthly house calls which usually coincide with a pelican delivery at least ya made it home. leave it at home til they deliver the part! but still..rep for not giving up and what an ordeal.

 

Honestly I thought maaaaybe it was fixed since it ran fine out to my friend's home and restarted fine once I got there - this after having warmed it in the garage. I also knew that if I didn't drive it and just waited until my trip to NJ that it would leave me stranded. Better that it happened now than on that trip or in bumper to bumper rush hour. It's really strange, if I let the car sit for say ten minutes it lets me drive for about 5. It's like something is overheating somewhere so I was glad to narrow it down to fuel system. The relay is suspect, the pump is still suspect IMO. I will swap the relay asap and if I can get Irish's pump when it's pulled out I'll slap that in too or at least have it in the car just in case. It's not hard to swap but I'd prefer to not do it on the shoulder of a major highway

 

This may sounds stupid, but have you tried replacing coolant temp sensor. I remember when I used to have 240SX turbocharged. when cold, it started no problem, when it was getting hot/normal temp. sometimes it would start, and sometimes not. Had to wait until the car cooled down and it started again, I wasted so many nights trying to figure out why..... than last thing it was to replace coolant temp sensor - that fixed.

 

Can be a good shout for some hot start and running issues but it will effect mixture and not fuel pressure.

 

Did the relay resolve the issue??

I would think the Coolant temp sensor would be easy to see if its not reading correctly. You just need to log it or even check it warm start. if it's hard start...then something is pulling fuel or fuel restriction, etc. Unless it's majorly loading up and causing overly rich condition...which would be very easy to see/smell/tell.

BLKMGK - you did get into the tank to visually inspect? Just curious.

 

honestly after following this closely and hearing of your travails in my again admittedly non-pro way, i think the fuel pump would've given up fully by now. they really dont give you this much "warning" for lack of a better description of your on/off again situations with it. why i agree w you guys that suspect the relay. waiting to hear once you've thrown the new one on if that was the culprit.. i'll sure remember this though, and hope mine doesn't ever crap out. i cant change sh*t at the side of the road. but again, when my FP went, it gave me a cpl false starts, and then pffft. was pretty obvious to me, no fp!

i'll try and tell wayne over at pelican to hurry that thing up lol. gl man, you'll nail it soon enough.

 

BTW - Don't feel bad BLKMGK...I had to get a tow 3 miles away from the house myself just a couple weeks ago. Thought it was the relay...bypassed it in the middle of the parking lot...still nothing. Swapped the extra relay for the fuel pumps (I added some back-up relays) to the secondary pump and still nothing...no tools on me. Got it home at 2am in the morning..cracked it open and the main line for the fuel feed had blown off. My man card almost got revoked for not tighten hose clamps enough....won't happen again. HOpe that makes you feel better at least.

 

Still waiting on the relay! It's just one up in front I'm hoping? Garth is working on Irish's car and when his stock pump is out I'm going to beg him to ship it quick! Between the two I think I'll have this fixed but I'm sure not going to drive it in traffic or too far from home until I'm sure it's fixed

 

Hey,

Did you ever get this resolved? (I assume yes from the age of this thread)
The reason I ask is, I'm having similar issues.


Thanks,

Roy

 

Yeah, I ordered a fuel pressure tester from Amazon that fit our test nipple, managed to catch it doing it where I had room and light. Slapped the tester and sure enough zero fuel pressure! Swapped in a new pump and was good to go. I'll possibly be lending this pump to someone to test their car with but afterwards may be able to pass it on if you're comfortable getting dirty. Will be a week or three though soonest. I never found a source for just our pumps and bought mine used off of eBay...

 

Thanks BLKMGK. I appreciate the response and offer.

I was able to eventually restart the car. And promptly parked it. I've been out of town until now and was going to take a look this weekend. The car had REALLY similar symptoms to what you were describing, but I *think* mine may be more related to the MAF connector and/or the MAF sensor.

The reason I say this, is that I recently changed out cat delete pipes on my exhaust (days prior to this issue). The car was running fine for 3 or 4 days. And then hesitation, rough idle and eventually failure to start.

While I was waiting for the flat bed to arrive I thought, "this has to be related to the work I did; it can't be a coincidence". I recollected everything I touched and inspected the car while I waited. The O2 sensor connectors were secure and the MAF sensor connector was also secure. But I removed the MAF connector and reattached it anyway. Turned it over and it fired right up. Before that, nothing on like 10 attempts. I canceled the tow truck and drove away thinking that I had dodged a bullet. A few miles down the road the car started run rough again.

In my research, I've read this post and others. In other posts someone indicated that the connector pins on the MAF connector may loosen and move, causing a short. I'm gonna start there and verify whether or not they are all in place and also do the voltage checks to verify that the sensor is within range. Also, I will disconnect the battery for 10 minutes to reset the ECU. Once reconnected, turn the ignition "on" without starting for 60 second to set the the Throttle Body calibration. If this all fails to remedy the problem, it may be fuel related. The fuel pump, fuel pump relay or an obstruction in a line.

Anyway, I thought I would fill you in since you were good enough to reply . . .

Thanks again,

Roy

 

Sounds exactly like the fuel pump in my car honestly. Next time it happens unplug the MAF and if it fires up you'll know, car will run sans MAF but I wouldn't boost it.