I've been going over my car fairly throughly, and I have spark (although I don't know if it's firing at the right time). So I started to investigate the fuel. I don't have a gauge, but I figured I could "check" it by triggering the check valve and seeing if gas came out. When the car is off, it doesn't seem to have any pressure at all. However, when I turn the car over, I do get gas to come out.

Should the fuel rail be pressurized when the car is off or only when it is being turned over? What is the normal fuel pressure I should expect? I'll probably end up getting a gauge in the next week or so.

I know the first time I pulled off my rail, fuel sprayed everywhere. Then again, I have a pressure guage now and when the car is off I show zero pressure. That might also be because I have a return system now.

when you say that some gas comes out... do you mean trickle out or spray everywhere? I do not know the exact fuel pressure that your are supposed to have, but it's in the 40-50 psi range.

i assume the problem is that the car wont start. am i right?

there should be a fairly large "burst" of gas and fumes relesed when the system is pressurized (on startup). my grandmothers neon had the same problem..it would barely get a trickle at startup. it turned out the fuel pump was bad.

:shhh: i do cocaine :/shhh:

No, it sprays everywhere. Not the best way to check things, but it seemed to work. Shot out over the bumper.

You should always have pressure. There's a check valve in the fuel pump, and the FPR should hold pressure as well.

You'll only have like 5psi if the car's been sitting for a few days.

As soon as you turn the key to on (not start), it will prime the pump for 5 seconds to bring the fuel pressure up to about 60psi, and the regulator will drop that down to 45 or so and hold it for a few minutes.

Picked up a fuel pressure tester, and here's what I've observed.

When the key is to the "on" position, not crank, fuel pressure is 0. This is after leaving the key in that position for ~5 seconds.
When the key is on the crank position, the engine cranks and fuel pressure goes to ~50. When the engine has stopped cranking, it holds pressure (it slowly drops).

So there *should* be pressure when the key is just to the on position? Could this cause the car to not start? It does have fuel in the rail that's pressurized when I crank it.

I'll give that a try. I went through and checked all the relays and they came out fine.