Don Carter

My son and I were headed from Houston to Phoenix today in the 86.5 and about 8 hours in the trip it died. It would start back up, run very rough and die again. We were in the middle of no where, so I pull over and swapped some relays around and when I swapped the ignition relay it started and ran normal, so we got back on the road and drove another hour at 80 mph, then it died again. We noticed the 2nd time the fuel pump was making some strange noises and not buzzing like normally does. We had it flatbedded about 10 miles to Van Horn, Texas, which is about 110 miles from El Paso. Roger is checking into finding a pump in El Paso, and I talked to Sean about reversing the polarity on the pump to free it up, but not sure I would be confident in it for the rest of the trip.

Funny thing is last time I was in West Texas, I was driving a 34' motorhome and it also lost it's fuel pump in Ozona, TX. Is there a connection between long hot drives and fuel pump failures?

We got a hotel room in town and are now eating some awesome Mexican food and thinking about our options.

Any other ideas?

SeanR

Sorry you are stuck Don, give your son a bunch of beer. Get yourself a lot of beer and then get some wire and reverse the pump, you might be good for a few more years as one of our Texas drivers has found out.

soontobered84

I had a tire blow out in Van Horn on a trip from Santa Barbara to DFW after picking up a new to me 928. 2 tire shops in town. One had the method to remove the wheel lock that I didn't have the key foand the other had the tire that fit. Imagine that!

soontobered84

If someone had an airplane, I have an extra fuel pump they could fly to you.

Don Carter

Back at the hotel now. I pulled the cover off the FP and noticed the ground connection was pretty rusty looking. I cleaned it up, but I don't think that is the issue. It's idling smoothly and the pump is buzzing right now. I'll pull the subwoofer wire off the amp and run 12v to the ground terminal on the FP to run it backwards and see what happens. If it's overheating, maybe leaving the cover off and driving slower would help. No rental cars in town, so I really need to get it driveable.

James Bailey

leave the gas cap slightly loose....just on the odd chance the tank is NOT venting properly....You could also hotwire directly to the pump if needed.....

Mrmerlin

you may have found your answer without doing anything .
but first,
how much gas is in the tank?
Are you using the air conditioner?

NOTE with the fuel cool and the engine running .
if the pump sounds normal then dont bother with doing any jumping of the pump

I would suggest to get some techron and some MMO
(about 6 OZ) and add them to a full tank of premium fuel,

NOTE refill the tank when it gets close to a 1/3 full.

Also check the bottom of the tank after running for an hour to see if the tank is collapsing

Don Carter

We have not let the car get under 1/3 tank. AC has been on. I've seen a collapsed tank on another car, and this one looks normal. Good idea on leaving the gas cap lose. It's been idling for about 45 min and running perfect. Revs up nicely too. I was recently messing with the spare tire area wiring and a couple of plugs on the CE panel while troubleshooting my CC speed sensor issue but they all look good. Will run the pump backwards in a few minutes, and then maybe test it out around town tomorrow. If it dies again, wiring it direct to the battery wouldn't be that hard on the side of the road, but if it's a bad pump, it won't help.

tomc_mets

Can't advise anything about the car, but if you're still in Van Horn try the steak restaurant, Van Horn Cattle Company, and you can get good coffee at Rodney's. Best of luck with the car...T

Mrmerlin

Umm you should not bother running the pump backwards,
this is a last ditch measure when the pump freezes up.

This operation can cause a fire at the fuel tank,

I suggest to put the cover back on and continue your trip.

Don Carter

Stan,

It's 2 hours of nothing between here and El Paso, so worried about it running for an hour and dying again. It's 5 more hours to Phoenix after that. Are you thinking that MMO will be the fix? I'm not really convinced I've fixed anything yet. BTW the tank was more than 3/4 when it died last time.

ltoolio

For the ignorant (e.g. Me), should MMO be a regular additive per its usage interval? And is it preferred over Lucas'?

(apologies for sidetracking the thread...)

Mrmerlin

The MMO should be a used in every tank.
it will keep the rollers in the pump operating smoother

Don if thats the case on where your located,
then it may be prudent to install a new pump,
make sure that you use 3 new sealing washers and that you also have onhand the hard short line.

NOTE the fuel pump fuse and or the fuel pump relay could also be the issue here, so spend some time in the CE panel deoxit is also a helpful tool.

NOTE there is the other thing to consider,
simply buying and then stowing the new fuel pump behind the drivers seat could be enough to keep the pump you have running for a long time.

Seems when I stow spares in the car the originals never fail,
is this Murphy s law in reverse?

Drewster67

Good Luck

LT Texan