Car stopped while running

[fjmuurling]

Hello,

I took the car (1990 Turbos SE) for a drive today to pick up some engine oil (about 90 km from my home). Bought the oil and started cruising again and decided to take a detour on my way home. The car was absolutely running fine. After aprox 80 km the car died and i pulled over. Checked for leakages etc and waited a couple of minutes before restarting. After restarting the car i had the same problem again after less than 1 km.

I looked like fuel starvation but the tanks were about half full.

I did the following:

* Found out that i couldn't hear the fuel pump running.

* Checked fuel pump fuse was ok however changed with a new one, still no fuel pump running and not possible to start.

* set and reset the fuel inertia switch a couple of times (which i also did the first time as the road was quite bumpy) without result.

*Changed the fuel pump relay for one of the aircon relays, guess what no result.

*Opened up the fuel pump relay (still looked very good on the inside, no corrosion etc) and manually operated the contacts and i could hear the pump running.

* I figured what the &^$%$ is wong lets try to start the car and after turning the key again the car came to life like nothing had happened.

This all took place somewher not close to home and cars passing by all the time which was quite embarrassing. 5 minutes later a friend of mine came by who i had called more than an hour before. We drove to his home without any problems and after some coffee i jumped in the car and got home without any problems.

Anybody has any ideas what was wrong, i'm going to change the relays for new ones anyhow.

Many thanks in advance,

Freek

[Vulcan Grey]

Hello,

I took the car (1990 Turbos SE) for a drive today to pick up some engine oil (about 90 km from my home). Bought the oil and started cruising again and decided to take a detour on my way home. The car was absolutely running fine. After aprox 80 km the car died and i pulled over. Checked for leakages etc and waited a couple of minutes before restarting. After restarting the car i had the same problem again after less than 1 km.

I looked like fuel starvation but the tanks were about half full.

I did the following:

* Found out that i couldn't hear the fuel pump running.

* Checked fuel pump fuse was ok however changed with a new one, still no fuel pump running and not possible to start.

* set and reset the fuel inertia switch a couple of times (which i also did the first time as the road was quite bumpy) without result.

*Changed the fuel pump relay for one of the aircon relays, guess what no result.

*Opened up the fuel pump relay (still looked very good on the inside, no corrosion etc) and manually operated the contacts and i could hear the pump  running.

* I figured what the &^$%$ is wong lets try to start the car and after turning the key again the car came to life like nothing had happened.

This all took place somewher not close to home and cars passing by all the time which was quite embarrassing. 5 minutes later a friend of mine came by who i had called more than an hour before. We drove to his home without any problems and after some coffee i jumped in the car and got home without any problems.

Anybody has any ideas what was wrong, i'm going to change the relays for new ones anyhow.

Many thanks in advance,

Freek

Just a guess, but maybe the relay isn't getting enough voltage to operate (from the ECU) so it can't turn on. By jumping the relay contacts, you took control away from the ECU and forced the relay to send power to the pump.

Check the voltage from the ECU to the relay and see if that is enough to switch the relay.

I'm guessing a loose ground???

[fjmuurling]

Thanks Travis for quick reply,

tomorrow i will buy some good contact cleaner and check the voltages and also follow the apropiate section in the EMH manual and hookup freescan to check the voltage the ECM sees.

Freek

[fjmuurling]

Update on car stops when running

Installed a new relay and cleaned the contacts (which were still very good) two days ago and the car ran fine after that. However the same thing happened today again and now I know what is wrong. The fuel cutoff inertia switch is causing the trouble, the fuel relay is being energized when it needs to be. So when i bypassed the inertia switch (with a paperclip in the connector, temporally repair on a parking place) the fuel pump came to life again. Ordered a new inertia switch which will be arriving the end of next week.

The faulty inertia switch didn't show that it was set (the knob on top comes up which has a red shaft when the switch is set by a heavy bump like in an accident).

Freek