Well it got pretty cold here so I'll throw this out as a possibility before I go into the details. I have it in the garage with a space heater right now.

Anyways, I came home from work and parked out front. Came in for about 20 minutes and went back otu to start the car. It will not start. It cranks but does not fire up successfully. The engine revs to between 200 and 700 RPMS, and continues to rev to this for a few moments before dieing. If I give it gas it just seems to struggle a bit harder but I get the same outcome, it dies. Sometimes it will struggle for up to 30 seconds, other times only a moment or two, before dieing. I had no CEL and all my fluids are normal last time I checked.

I just had the fuel pump replaced, it is brand new. The gas tank is half full. The engine, to my knowledge, is in good working condition, or at least I thought it was. silly me, forgot im driving a dsm.

If anyone has any ideas its much appreciated. Its supposed to drp below zero with wind chill here tonight in chi-town, and my birthday is sunday, so this sure is looking like a fun weekend :-(

Frozen fuel lines if your having really cold weather. Thats the first thing i'd look for. Remove the fuel line and lay a rag over it, then kick the key on and off a few times to see if it pushes any ice out. Usually the filter will freeze because it catches the most water. Also if you have a cai make sure there is no ice build-up on it.

Update: I turn the key on and off many many times, and finally I heard the fuel pump prime. When I hear it, the car starts, but won't stay running unless I give it gas and stay on it. If I let off the gas pedal the car dies almost instantly.

The pump primes about 2/10 tries now. Could it be a power issue with the pump? Its a brand new walboro (if I can trust the shop, which I can't. Trying to eliminate the shop as much as posible from now on.)

I'm going to check the pump now and see if there are any loose wires, but thats about the extent to which I can check on it right now, I don't have a circuit tester and its too late and too cold to start taking things apart.

Thanks in advance for any help!!

p.s.

Originally posted by 97xtc
Frozen fuel lines if your having really cold weather. Thats the first thing i'd look for. Remove the fuel line and lay a rag over it, then kick the key on and off a few times to see if it pushes any ice out. Usually the filter will freeze because it catches the most water. Also if you have a cai make sure there is no ice build-up on it.

This shouldn't be the problem because the car is starting now and running while I give it gas, right?

It will take a while to melt the ice, you figure a little piece of ice can plug the injector. Alot of pieces in the system will continue to plug them. If you can get it to run for a little while, it may help to speed the process of melting with fuel flowing around the ice. Id suspect this before i'd condem the pump. If pressure is up the pump may not kick on, also make sure you are turning the key completely off, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on.

Ok, very strange. I unplugged the power clip to the thing in the center underneath the rear seats. Checked this out, looks ok, plugged it back in, started the car up, and it worked! Idled fine, ran it for a few minutes and turned it off (had the garage doors closed, had to open them up. ) I go back to try again, bam, back to my problem.


When the fuel pump does prime, the car now starts, revs to 2000 rpms, then as it comes back down normally it just doesn't stop at 1000 rpms to idle, it keeps going down and dies quickly.


k update again: i put back that sensor thing in the center of the backseat, screwed it down and made sure the plug was in securely. Hit the key, veeeem the fuel pump kicked in on the first try, started her up and she ran like normal, perfect idle and everything.

Let her run for a few minutes, kicked it off and restarted. She's started fine 3 times now. Cross my fingers and hope that if it was ice, it melted, and if it had anything to do with what I fiddled with, I fixed it... lol

thanks again for your help I'll update tomorrow when I go out and try to start it up again.

My vote is for shitty connection on the FP harness. If it's not clipped on right and starts to work loose than all kinds of issues like the ones you're seeing start to happen.

Originally posted by slowmitsu
My vote is for shitty connection on the FP harness. If it's not clipped on right and starts to work loose than all kinds of issues like the ones you're seeing start to happen.

I'm going out to check on that in a few minutes, hoping thats it. I think it might be a combination of that and a little ice in the system, because I don't think fiddling with what I messed with should have fixed the problem. Whats the name for that thing that sits in the fuel in the center of your back seat. Had an orange capsule and a black floater box, I'm guessing fuel level sensor?

the center of the back seat is the fuel level sensor
the fuel pump is under the right rear passenger seat

chiltons has them mislabeled

easiest way to make sure
unplug the center plug and turn the car on

the fuel level gauge will not go up

Originally posted by baxsom
the center of the back seat is the fuel level sensor the fuel pump is under the right rear passenger seat chiltons has them mislabeled easiest way to make sure unplug the center plug and turn the car on the fuel level gauge will not go up

Yeah, everything looks fine and the car starts and runs fine now. I'm going to pick up some HEET, floor mats, some oil, and some other things that I've been stalling on for the car. Thanks for all the advice, My best guess is that the culprit here was ice in the fuel lines because of the sudden drop in temp (it went really cold last night here in chicago)

Now I think it might be a loose FP harness, since the fuel pump has been kicking in almost every time now, however while I was at autozone I turned the key to ON and I didn't hear it kick in, tried it again and it worked. Don'tunderstand why it wouldn't kick in the first time (it'd been sitting for a bit so there shouldn't have been pressure still in the lines.. or maybe I'm wrong)