Well, I've got almost 400 miles on the block now. Everything has been going good until today. As I was driving the car it just died on me. It was like I turned the key off. There was no hesitation, stutter, or any abnormal noise. Matter a fact, I didn't even notice that the car was off! I happened to look at my tach and my rpm's were at 0 and my oil light was on. So I pulled over and tried turning it over and my fuel pumps didn't come on. I turned the key off, then back on and the pumps came back on. She started right back up and ran fine. Then it happened twice more tonight before I decided to put her away for the evening. Every time, at first the fuel pumps don't turn on, then they will after turning the key on/off. The car just shuts right off! I don't even notice it shutting off, thats how smooth it cuts itself! What could this be? The whole fuel pump thing is what is making me paranoid. I just replaced the relay, so it can't be that. If the car just died, then started up it would be different. But all 3 times, my fuel pumps wouldn't come on at first. 20 seconds later they do! I'm confused here and need to get this gremlin out. What are your suggestions? By the way, everything is in the car in the sig except for the ignition, injectors, and boost controller(like that has anything to do with it) Thanks guys.....

it could be your relay.. what kind of relay do u have instead of the one that came with it? check your wires, and to make sure its all hooked up right...




Michael 99gs
HRC Stage 2
http://www.dreamwater.net/purplebeast

We replaced the stock fuel pump relay not the HRC one.

Could be your fuel pump, or any other significant wire, is grounding-out somewhere. Check the main wire bundle. Specifically in the engine bay where it runs across the EGR tube. In some occasions the heat from the EGR tube had melted right through the wire covering and down to the bare wires. Eventually grounding out whatever wire is exposed since the EGR tube is metal. I've had a friend that ran into this problem and spent over a grand to fix it, and I know a handful of others on the board have had the same experience. Check it out just to be sure......

Patrick
STAR Stage(4)

Well, I checked all my sensors and everything seems to be OK. I checked the MAP sensor wires at the AFC and they are fine. Another thing, I took the car out and the fuel pumps DO come on right after it dies. My car died again today, and I just pushed in the cluch, turned the key off quick, and then started it right back up while rolling down the road. This is what happens every time....and every time it will start right back up. So far it has only died when I have been somewhat rough with the car. By that I mean shifting gears hard(those G-force grab like a mutha!). It's died 5 times now, 4 times shifting fast, and once under hard braking(rotors are slightly warped). The thing that gets me confused is that the car is fine under normal driving, but when I start to push it, it will eventually die shortly after the pounding. I'm confused....someone help Dave and I! Thanks for the input guys....

first off, dont be "pushing" you car with only 400 miles on the the new block... :-) and about the dying, do you have any wires at all ran to power off of a fuse? check and make sure the fuse is good. it might sound unrelated, but the exact same thing happened to me and all it turned out to be was a damn fuse. make SURE all the wireing to the fuel pumps is correct, and that they arent grounding out anywhere. it definitely sounds like a wire problem to me. goodluck with it, and dont be driving it hard just yet.

Still can't figure it out...no lose wires..all good shape. All grounds seem to be fine??? WTF??

Check your ignition key cylinder. It may be going bad? There is a black/white wire at the key cylinder, and this wire powers up the fuel pumps and the ignition circuits. There may be a small short or loose connection inside the actual switch..just another thought for you....When you cant start it back up, get a test light on that black w/ white stripe wire, to see if its powering up. If your fuel pumps are coming on and it wont start, then thats not going to be the problem..just a thought..

I had the exact same problem at 200miles after the rebuild. Damn car shut down on me 5 times. 1st time I had to wait like 2 hours before it started up. Drove for like 3 miles then it shuts down again. Waited 30 minutes and drive for like 8 miles then it shuts down again. 5 hours later I start it up and drive 1/4 miles and it shuts down again. I get fuel pressure. Fuel pump would not go on when I first turn the key, but after second try I can hear it turn on. Sounds like it's about to start, but then it won't turn over. All the fuses are ok. I had it towed to the dealers to see if they can figure out what it is. It just woouldn't turn over. I'm so pissed. I'be been babying it after the rebuild and it does this to me.

hard wire the fuel pump w/ a switch str8 to the battery, to make sure its not a relay...if it still dies, thats one less posibility, it it doesnt die, then youve narrowed down the problem.

I actually think that may be the problem. The last 2 days I've been babying the car and it's been fine, except once. That one time I was slowing down and went over some bumps and it died....then started right back up as usual. Then, I noticed tonight that my fuel pressures at idle kept dropping! It went from 55 down to 40! Then as I watched my gauge, the needle was fluctuaing about 5psi up and down. It was moving up and down like someone was shaking the gauge or something. It was trying to settle at about 35psi, so I got out and turned it up to 55 again. Got back in the car and the needle started to wiggle back down to about 40psi! So I shut the car off and checked the wires going into the HRC relay. One of them appeared to be not pushed in all the way so I gave it a shove. I got back in my car and started it up, and my fuel pressure was at 100psi!!!! I turned my idle back down to about 50psi and the needle isn't moving anymore. Do you guys think this could have been my problem? Possibly when I shifted hard or went over bumps that wire was shorting in the relay causing my car to just shut down? I will test out my new found idea tomorrow, and see if I can get it do die on me again :)

Hmmm..they were ok other say when I checked them...???

Trust me this isn't too uncommon and damn hard to diagnose (mine used to do it which is why I got a new car). same sh*t, driving along and it just dies. then starts like nothing happened. My EGR pipe burned through my wires. had all that fixed didn't solve sh*t (that was obvious, it burned right through my alternator wires and then a few sensor wires. I could pull on the wires and it would cut off). I dont think its a pump and relay problem either. I have a friend with a avenger who had the same problem. his was just a loose ground soemwhere. I've even heard people say their PCM was grounding internally and a new PCM fixed it. The bad part is its totally unpredictable. Sometimes I could go for a week without it happening and sometimes twice in an hour. I go through too many tunnels, bridges and sh*t to put up with knocking off. Now that I dont drive it I'll attempt to fix it at my leisure. When you find it let me know. Somebody should log these problems and common fixes.

That damn egr and all the other parts of the block burned through my wires through several places. Car now runs, but I'm not driving it. I"m gonna be pulling the whole harness off and solder any parts that needs it. I'm not getting any CEL, but my battery keeps running out on me. Dealer charge me 240 just to tell me it short out because some exposed wires touched the block and head. And check this out....they want 1400 to fix the problem. 688 for new harness and 700 for labor. Car is under 60k but they don't want to do any warranty work on it just because I have an aftermarket turbo and all those guages in there. So I said fuck it and towed it home. Now it's in my garage. Oh yeah after getting a boost and starting the car, I disconnected the battery. Was the car suppose to shut off? Cuz it did. I noticed the car jerked also when I drove it awhile back and then shuts down.