OK, this car has been rock solid since I bought it about a year ago. Even after the SC install nothing major, never left me stranded.
And now suddenly something new every day since a week. First the alernator fails, then aparently both fuel pumps.
It ran great yesterday, parked it in the garage and this morning ... NO START.
It cranked, one fart, but no fire. Just like when I broke down with a seemingly busted fuel pump.
Changed all three inportant relays and still no start.
Took out the fuel pump fuse #38 and connected a test light. Cranked and the test light came right on and the car made a small attempt to fire. Plugged the same fuse back in and voila fired right up???????????
Took it out on the road onto I75 went into the toll booth right next to a C5 corvette , he took the bait and floored it. When our lanes merged into one I gained about 4 car length on him. Which put a much needed smile on my face.

But back to the miserable problem, what could be going on? I simply plugged things in and out and now it works again????

LH going out?

Thanks,
Sab.

 

Have you checked your plugs lately?

 

Exactly three times in the last 4 years, I have had to tap on a relay to get the car to start. Not sure if it is a sticky relay or if I just nudged the prongs enough? Based on this, my odds of starting the car right up (4 years, average of driving 2 days a week, assume an average of 3 starts per day) are pretty good. I currently have about 1 in 417 odds that my car won't start due to a very minor electrical issue. Odds are actually more favorable to me than this because I am looking at 4 relay taps in the 10 years I have owned it.

When the nuissance factor is great enough, ya gotta clean the heck out of electrical connections and start thinking about putting new fuses and relays in - keeping your old ones in the glovebox as emergency "spares".

1 in 417 may not be good enough. A relay tapping event would be pretty embarrassing on a date. On the other hand, it sure beats the old ran out of gas routine.

Just offering some perspective on things. I do not look forward to an electrical contact cleaning project - it looks like bit of a PITA.

 

James, you sound like your namesake at Int'l

 

Have you checked all your grounds and looked at the back of your fuse panel? It's possible your "fixes" have not addressed the underlying problem.

 

"Excuse me, I have to put my head in your lap and reach down here between your legs to fix something . . . ."

 

LOL Mark, pretty good

 

sounds like I got a new "fuse panel cleanup" project...
I ordered relays and bought fuses. I would be scared trying to pull out the panel though. I probably would never be able to plug everything back together the way it was...

 

Fuses can and do get old and stop working. I 'fixed' the power windows in my '89 by putting in new fuses on those circuits. And, they go up and down faster now too. The same effect might also be realized by simply pulling and re-inserting the fuse as that scrapes off surface oxidation/corrosion on the contacts. If the colored plastic is cloudy, crazed, or actually cracked, the fuse is on its last legs - toss it.

 

Holy ****!!! Now I gotta worry about crazed fuses?? I didn't sign up for this crap, man...

 

Chaad I bought some cheapies .... so I installed em ..... well when I tried to remove them ....


THE ELECTRODES STAYED BEHIND

 

I just read all the posts here, and first thought was either ground points or the fuse panel is starting to balk because of corosion. I think it was ShrkSkin who ended up going through his entire panel. Might want to look it up/drop him a line.

Good luck.

 

Check the positive connection under the hood on the passenger side fender. The one with the cover one it. In addition to the battery, I think one of the wires from there goes to the alternator or into the harness.
Some time back I found a bad connection there. When I hit a bump, or accelerated all power was lost or became intermittent.

 

Sometimes the plastic relay holders are tired in the panel and the relay won't seat right or pushes right through ...

 

I must have jinxed myself posting last week.
The family minivan had been banned for the garage for a week until I could finish a project on my 928. Finished the project but didn't have time to clean up so, because I am a nice guy, I put the 928 in the driveway and the minivan in the garage last night.

Not sure if it was the rain or the cold whether or... I had to do relay tap # 4 this morning to get the car started. I am too lazy to redo all of the math. I will guestimate that a 33% increase would put me at @ 1 in 270 odds.

The really great thing about this no start issue is that I can get the car started in less than a minute and don't have to get my hands dirty.