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[jamez]

ok I hope someone can help me out.. I pulled up to the gas station to get gas.. my car was running fine. stopped my car, put gas in, went inside and payed for the gas, came back outside and my car wouldn't start.. the starter is turning the motor over fine, but its not firing at all.. I'm thinking maybe fuel pump relay.. this happend at 11:00 pm, right after work, and I have to work in the morning, so i won't be able to look at it until tommorow afternoon. hopefully by then you guys can give me some pointers on what to look for.. thanks in advance

-Jamez

[TonyMechanic]

Start by pulling one of the plug wires at the plug, push a screwdriver into the plug wire (but not too hard) and hold the rubber/plastic handle of the screwdriver so that part of the metal on the screwdriver is within 5 - 10mm of a ground on the car, the valve cover is easiest. Have someone crank the car over (make sure that its out of gear and the clutch is in so that they dont run the car into you). If you see a spark jumping from the screwdriver to the valve cover you know that you have spark and its probably a fuel problem. Shoot me an email and tell me if it has spark or not and I'll tell ya what you can do from there. Unless y'all (yes, I'm from Kansas) want me to post it for all to read. its xplosive_10101@yahoo.com

[ This Message was edited by: TonyMechanic on 2002-01-20 09:20 ]

[jamez]

I was right, its the fuel pump relay... I used a jumper (paper clip) in the relays place to drive home... how much for a new fuel pump relay?

[Joes924]

ha its happend here before used a paper clip
i used a short wire ..there chinexspensive parts

[Roger Hall]

Fuel Pump Relay $35-$45

[wdb]

is it possible to use a standard relay to replace the fuel pump relay or is the FPR a special design

[jamez]

well, I have a '78 na, parts car and it had a different relay than my '77. the relay would actually fit into my car, and I'd turn the key and could here the fuel pump going, but my car would only run for like 1/2 a second and die.. weird. so either that relay was bad too, or its not just a regular relay, I don't know... anyways, I'm just gonna wire up a toggle switch for the time being.

[Joes924]

I think the later relays have something to do with the signal from the ignition ... I know when I switched to a performance ignition system I had to switch to a earlier relay.

[jamez]

can anyone see any problems of me just using a switch instead of the relay for a while until i get a new relay? Ive put about 50 miles on it with the switch and everything seems to be ok, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something, like why is the fuel pump relay so complicated? all it has to do is turn the fuel pump on right? i took apart my broken relay and put the switch in it, so i don't have a relay to look at to find out how the thing works. anyways, hopefully someone knows about these damned relays...