smnc

Okay, so my car has a fuel cut-off swich wired into the positive side of the pump.

After installing my new starter, I fired my car up. It was running rough and SUPER rich (thick grey smoke).

After turning the car off, I went to go stat it again. It wouldn't catch, so figured it was flooded and turned off the fuel switch.

It fired right up with the pump off, and KEPT running (runs smoother with the pump off). I immediately got under the car to check the fuel pump. It was indeed off with no vibrations or noise. I kep it running for about 10 minutes to preclude any possibility of excess fuel pressure in the lines, etc.

I then turned the car off and did the AFM check with the key in th "on" position but the car not running. With the pump switch on, I got normal pump and fuel rail noise. With the pump switch off, nothing.

I then got the car running again (with the fuel switch still in the off position), and pulled the fuel lines. Only a small ammount of fuel trickled out (same as normally comes out when the lines are pulled with the car off). A few seconds after pulling the lines, the engine stalled out and refused to start back up. No fuel comes out of the lines with the pump off, but fuel flows normally with the pump on.

WTF!!??

How is my car running with no fuel pump?

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

I had the same thing happen to me last weekend. I go to fire up the car and it is blowing smoke and will barely keeping running. So I flip off the pump for a second to try to clear it out. It runs better, then I turn the switch back on goes back to running like crap. I am like WTF? I turn the pump off and it continued to run for several minutes, checked to see if the pump was running and it wasn't.

I figured that I must have a stuck injector or something, but then I remembered that I had checked on some wires for Paradox by the ECU for his -SE engine swap. I checked and everything looks good. I then hooked up my little ECU code checker and got the coolant temp sensor code. I found that the wire had broken near the ECU plug. Fixed it and now it is back to normal.

So that it what I would check. It doesn't sound like you did anything around the coolant sensor plug or wiring lately, but with these same crazy symptoms, it would have to be it or maybe a stuck injector.

Kent

smnc

So you're saing the injectors are stuck open due to an ECU problem?

And I did recently ran new battery cables and replaced my fusible links with fused distubition blocks...

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

I am saying to check out the coolant temp sensor (try the ecu check procedure in the archive). If the wire is broken/sensor disconnected, the ECU will think that it is very cold out (resistance of the sensor goes up as it gets colder). Because of this, the ECU holds the injectors open for a longer period and dumps too much fuel in.

On the 2nd gens and later, their ECUs have default values if a sensor is bad (like 180* for coolant temp, 70* for air temp, etc.). Our ECU does not have such defaults.

The other option is that one injector is physically stuck open, letting fuel in all the time (more fuel with the pump on). Check out the error codes. I can help out as needed (via pm). If there are no codes, we will have to investigate further. I do think it probably is the coolant temp sensor becuase I had the exact problems that you are having.

smnc

Well, the wire seems to be intact, but I'll try pulling the codes. I have a spare sensor I can drop in if thats what it is...

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

My wiring looked fine too. The only way that I found that it was a problem was with the error codes. The wire had broken right where it goes into the ECU plug (core of the wire broke, some of the insulation was still intact). Let us know how the code checking goes. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask.

Kent

Whanrow

Don't you have to leave for Ottawa in the morning?

Why not disconnect your switch, put things back as they were, and see what happens. That would be the easiest with the time you have. At least you would then know if the problems was in any way related to something you had done inadvertantly. It would be a shame to miss the Ottawa meet.