84 gsl-se wont start
 

I recently bought a 84 GSL-SE. I put a battery into it and cranked it over a few times and it didn't start, I then pumped the pedal a few times and tried again. It cranked over for 5 seconds and fired up. The car ran for about 5 minutes then stalled and would not start up again. The car was sitting for an undisclosed amount of time when i bought her. I pulled it into my shop after work today and decided to check to see if the fuel pump was working. Low and behold i have no power at the pump.... Is there a fuse or relay that triggers the pump. I also tried to wedge open the air flow sensor flap to see if that was the problem but it didn't help....

I know i posted in another tread that i'm going to swap my 13B-PP over but for now if i can get it running i can drive it and work on the body work till its time to gut the engine out...

Any help would be great......

The only thing that I know that will actually keep the pump from working, provided that all connections are good, is the engine fuse (20A) in the fuse box under the driver's side dash. Even with the AFM plug disconnected and the EFI fusible link disconnected, the pump still has power. Another way to check the fuel pump is to take off the pressure hose and aim it into a can or something. The pressure hose is the one with the blue lettering on it, or the one the is most forward. Then find the test plug, which is near the Air Flow Meter. It has a rubber housing all around the plug. Jump the terminal with a piece of wire, and gas should start rushing out the fuel hose. Of course, you have to have the key on. You probably know this already---sorry for babbling on.

It does sound like you may have a pump problem, because it just suddenly died after running.

Mike

Is your fuel old and dirty? Hows your filter? how long was it sitting?

Good questions, but keep in mind that he has no power at the pump.

I'm going to try and jump the fuel pump to see if it starts working when wired to the battery directly. If that works then I'm going to see if the open circuit relay is the problem. I followed the wire back from the pump in the FSM and they lead to what is called the open circuit relay. I believe this is what controls the fuel pump so it only works when cranking the engine to start and when its running.

Like i stated above it had been sitting for an undisclosed amount of time. I pulled the rubber hose off of the return line and the gas doesn't smell bad at all but you never know......


Thanks for the help so far...

Thanks to 84stock we got the SE running tonight. Gary played with my fuse's and swapped two fuseable links around and the car started. Since Gary left my shop the car started having issues running. It was running real rough, so i pull the leading wire off of the front rotor no change, pulled the leading off of the rear rotor and it almost died. I'm thinking I have a bad wire, bad plugs or the cap and rotor that don't look good need to be replaced. If that all fails then my guess would be that the front rotor has lost some compression and i need a rebuild. I'll keep all you guys informed.

Thanks again to 84stock for his help

Do you have 60psi fuel pressure?

Have you checked the ignition timing with a timing light?

Are your plugs fouled?

Glad to hear you at least got ther started. As you may know, the SE fuel pump does not power up until there's is cranking. Secondly, the fusible link is for the EFI, not the pump. Third, I would think that for any SE that is already running poorly, if the leading plug is pulled, it will die. Don't really know the history of that car, but before you assume that your engine is bad, bring it back to life first. Search in the archives under "reviving a rotary" or even "seafoam." These threads talk about rotaries that ran really poor or didn't run at all due to carbon build-up on the apex seals. If an apex seal is not seating properly, no matter what you do, the car won't run/perform to its full potential.

Mike

there is a fuel pump jumper connector by the air box, its a yellow 2 pin connector with a rubber boot on it.

key on with that jumpered and the pump should run.

We have the pump working now. Its running like a bag a shiet

after u got your pump "running like a bag of shiet"....does the car start up ok?

You were messing with the afm door before, check to ensure it is not stuck open (very possible), been there done that. Then, pull a plug from each rotor and turn it over to check for compression. You could do the real compression test but just start with the hearing test. (swoosh swoosh swoosh). If there is an issue, try the seafoam test, I got lucky with a flooding revival before. Don't waste a bunch of time on buying plugs, cap, rotor etc when you find the motor is bad in the end. Check the engine "first". Good luck......