Is This A Dead Fuel Pump?

[Steely]

Hi All

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, and hate to just ask for help, but the R33 died on the way to work this morning, and I was hoping one of you experts could give me a quick diag, as I don't have the service manual for the car.

Was driving as normal, when I either lost ignition or lost the fuel pump, she'll still turn over, fuses look ok, but won't start.

Attached is a picture of the error light it's showing when I crank it over, really hoping someone can advise me on this

Thanks in advance!

Steely

[mad082]

no that is the cat temp sensor. usually comes on when the sensor is shagged (or the wire to it). if it comes on when the car is cold then you know that the sensor is faulty of the wire is damaged. cutting the wire (or unplugging it if you can be bothered finding the plug under the passenger seat) is the best solution.

[Steely]

no that is the cat temp sensor. usually comes on when the sensor is shagged (or the wire to it). if it comes on when the car is cold then you know that the sensor is faulty of the wire is damaged. cutting the wire (or unplugging it if you can be bothered finding the plug under the passenger seat) is the best solution.

Thank you very much for that, the car was cold (I warm it up a little before driving, but needle was still just above the first line), would this cause the engine to stop, or do I have a larger problem?

Really appreciate the advice, and sorry for the stupid questions, will search the forum now for cat temp sensor so I know what to unplug.

Steely

[krzysiu]

What marc said about the light is true. But don't think it would affect a car not starting

[mad082]

no it shouldn't affect the car starting as it is purely a warning light.

the car not starting will be either a fuel or spark issue. fuel side could be caused by a dodgy fuel pump, low fuel pressure or injector issue (or wiring to fuel pump or injectors). ignition side it could be dodgy coilpacks, ignitor (is series 1), spark plugs or crank angle sensor, or again, wiring for any of those items. could possibly also be a AFM issue.

[Steely]

She started fine this morning as normal, got about 1k from home and just died, if it's not the cat temp sensor shutting the engine down, I reckon I've got either an ignition problem, or a dead fuel pump.

Will check tonight, usually I can hear the fuel pump priming the engine before I turn the key to full start, will listen for this tonight, if I can hear the fuel pump, thinking it has to be an ignition problem, will

have to get it towed home if I can't get it started (am going to try unplugging the cat temp plug first however)

Any other suggestions welcome, am new to Skylines, and thank you all for the replies so far!

Cheers Fellas

[mad082]

if it is starting fine when cold but then dying when it gets hot it may possibly be an issue with the coolant temp sensor. next time it dies try unplugging the coolant temp sensor (2 wire plug on the top radiator hose where the hose goes onto an alloy housing). if it starts straight away then you know it's the coolant sensor. i have a feeling people have also had issues like this when the fuel cap or breather hose or something like that has been playing up and you get a vaccum in the fuel tank, and after a while the vaccum in the tank stops fuel from pumping. once the car has been able to sit for a while the vaccum pressure drops and it will run again. i used to have this problem with my old whippersnipper all the time. simply removing the fuel cap and putting it back on would temporarily solve the problem, until the vaccum got strong enough again to cause the same problem.

[ClutchBurndout-:(]

as i see it, all your lights are showing, which is what happens when you first turn the key????

check that you havent knocked any plugs off for the fuel pump, in my old vl i accidentally left the wire for the fuel pump off and took me a while to realise it :

[Steely]

if it is starting fine when cold but then dying when it gets hot it may possibly be an issue with the coolant temp sensor. next time it dies try unplugging the coolant temp sensor (2 wire plug on the top radiator hose where the hose goes onto an alloy housing). if it starts straight away then you know it's the coolant sensor. i have a feeling people have also had issues like this when the fuel cap or breather hose or something like that has been playing up and you get a vaccum in the fuel tank, and after a while the vaccum in the tank stops fuel from pumping. once the car has been able to sit for a while the vaccum pressure drops and it will run again. i used to have this problem with my old whippersnipper all the time. simply removing the fuel cap and putting it back on would temporarily solve the problem, until the vaccum got strong enough again to cause the same problem.

I'll give the fuel cap trick a go for sure, this is the first time she's played up at all since I've owned her (about 4 months now), always starts first time, doesn't get hot and die, only issue is idle drops too low sometimes, but am sure this is AAC valve (thanks to the thread here http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Di...tml&hl=idle , symptoms are exactly as described there for the idle problem, will be fixing that soon), it's never failed to start or restart after a low idle for me, this was quite a surprise this morning, I can tell you!

Thanks again all, hoping I can get her home this arvo, if not, it's towtruck time

[Steely]

as i see it, all your lights are showing, which is what happens when you first turn the key????

check that you havent knocked any plugs off for the fuel pump, in my old vl i accidentally left the wire for the fuel pump off and took me a while to realise it :

Yep, took the pic after it had died, while I was cranking trying to restart it, (light only comes on while cranking it, today after it died was the first time i'd seen it lit if that helps)

I did look for loose wires, but couldn't see anything obvious, was in a rush to get to work, will have a better look tonight, I really hope it is just something loose.

As mentioned, will turn the key to just before "start", and listen for the fuel pump, if I can hear it prime, gotta be no spark you think?

Sorry for all the questions, but glad I joined up here, you guys are awesome

[mad082]

the fuel pump priming only means that fuel is getting to the injectors, doesn't say what pressure it is at or whether the injectors are actually firing.

if you have a problem with something like the crank angle sensor then it will stop both the spark and the fuel.

the easiest way to check the spark is to remove a spark plug from the motor, leave it in the coil pack, earth the bottom of it against the engine and have someone turn the car over. you should see a spark arcing across the gap of the spark plug. before doing this it is best to unplug the injector loom at the front of the plenum as you don't want it to be pumping in fuel with no spark plug to block the hole. if you have a spare spark plug then you can put this back in the motor and leave the injector loom plugged in.

[Steely]

the fuel pump priming only means that fuel is getting to the injectors, doesn't say what pressure it is at or whether the injectors are actually firing.

if you have a problem with something like the crank angle sensor then it will stop both the spark and the fuel.

the easiest way to check the spark is to remove a spark plug from the motor, leave it in the coil pack, earth the bottom of it against the engine and have someone turn the car over. you should see a spark arcing across the gap of the spark plug. before doing this it is best to unplug the injector loom at the front of the plenum as you don't want it to be pumping in fuel with no spark plug to block the hole. if you have a spare spark plug then you can put this back in the motor and leave the injector loom plugged in.

I'll give the spark plug thing a try, listening for the priming is only so I can tell if the pump is actually pumping, if it isn't (as in I can;t hear it), I'll start there.

Thanks again!

Steely

[Steely]

Well, had a listen, no priming pump noise at all, going to call this one fuel pump dead, will get it towed home tomorrow and get a fuel pump from somewhere.

Thanks again all

Steely

[G3TFKD]

It may not necessarily be a dead fuel pump. it can be the wiring for the fuel pump.

I've had it happen to me before that my car died in the middle of the road and I had to get it towed home. I thought it was the fuel pump so i bought a new one and replaced it but I still had the same problem where it wasn't turning on.

I then did a search on SAU to find the thread about the fuel pump rewire in the Tutorials/FYI section and rewired the fuel pump and that fixed my problem straight away. have never had a problem since.

just another thing to be wary of.

[Steely]

G3TFKD, I missed your post (subscription to thread not working), but I figured out that was exactly the problem, the car has a kill switch that kills power to the fuel pump, and it's not been installed well, was poking around and noticed the wiring for it was rusty as hell, stripped the rusty part out, soldered and heatshrunk back together and she's back on the road.

Good onya Mate, you picked it!

Check this out

Thanks again all, might see you at a SAU meet sometime, will buy beer for all that replied in here

Steely