Bizarre fuel incident

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02-10-2012, 11:47 PM

#16

danglerb

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Maybe two unrelated things happened, one electrical, and one mechanical from the bump?

Any chance some alarm related thing was triggered?

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02-10-2012, 11:48 PM

#17

the flyin' scotsman

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I should also add that my car had all new 53 relays........they're cheap so I had replace them all.

There was no noise when it did restart with the old pump other than the 'normal' pump buzz.

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02-11-2012, 12:03 AM

#18

S4ordie

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Ball

Yeah, that old trick can work. The noise I had was far louder than any stuck fuel pump and more a rapid ratatatat than the constant hum of a stuck pump.

Hey Bill, Did it sound like the loud clicking you get when the battery is low and there isn't enough juice to turn over the starter? To me that is a loud rapid rapping sound. If the answer is yes, then as others have indicated, I'd check your grounds and your battery tie down clamp.

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02-11-2012, 12:26 AM

#19

Bill Ball

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Dan: Yes, that is a good description of the sound. I will check the battery and grounds in the morning.

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02-12-2012, 08:27 PM

#20

Spun

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Ball

Was there a loud noise as well as the loss of power? Did it fix itself after turning off the ignition like my case?

I do not recall. The cure was the same, but I cannot recall if I heard a loud noise. I had the windows open and the sun roof open. ... and the stereo blazing. I stopped, turned it off. Fired it back up and nursed it a while and all was good.

I have swapped fuel pumps since then as well for an unrelated issue.

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02-12-2012, 11:40 PM

#21

dr bob

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Quote:

Originally Posted by AO

Let me see if I can say this without mixing things up... the O2 sensor is going to tell you how much oxygen is in the exhaust stream. Lean = more oxygen. The cause for more oxygen in the exhaust stream can be the result of lack of fuel or the lack of ignition of the air fuel mixture. (I think that's right)

The real question is which one did you experience.

Hitting a severe bump may have caused any number of faults. A loose/poor relay is a good place to suspect. A loose ground strap, loose battery that shorted on the cover, ignition lead, ground point, loose chip in the LH, loose ignition switch... All of them possible suspects. Unfortunately, intermittent faults like this are difficult to reproduce. If it were me, I would have (if my ***** felt large) driven over the same patch to try and recreate the event.

The "oxy" sensor reading is a direct indicator of combustion quality, specifically CO as an indicator of mixture in the combustion. You can pull a plug wire and not see a material change in sensor reading. It's not an indicator of ignition problems; for that you monitor raw HC for the fuel charge that's passing through unburned.