I'm stumped, not that it takes much. My 85 GSL cut out at highway speed yesterday. It was running very well and everything was normal, the engine just quit running at 70 mph. After a minute on the side of the road, it restarted and I nursed it off the nearest exit and into a gas station, where it died and wouldn't start again.

Its not getting gas and it runs for a few seconds if you pour a little gas directly in the carb, so it seems to be something with the fuel supply. The feeder to the carb is dry and the fuel pump is not switching on with the ignition, so I replaced the fuel pump, which was pretty rusty and looked like it probably came with the car.

However this didn't fix the problem because the new pump doesn't work either, in fact it doesn't turn on with the ignition. And the old pump turns on when you hook it up to a battery, so it probably wasn't bad in the first place.

So the problem must be that I'm not getting power to the fuel pump. One clue might be that with the ignition turned on, the dash lights, except for the brake and seatbelt lights, don't come on like they usually do.

All the fuses check out and I can't find any bad wiring, so can anyone tell me why the fuel pump isn't getting any juice??

Much thanks!
Ray

 

check your fuse panel for the fuel pump fuse. it could be blown which is causing your problem.. when i put an aftermarket fuel pump on my car, i put in a toggle switch to cut it on/off, it's located where the power window switch would go..

edit: misread post.. if the fuses check out, i would check the wires to the fuel pump.. hook a test light to em and try cranking.. if no juice work your way back from there..

 

hmmm, mine was doing the same thing, this is a very good question. Although mine hasn't done it for a while. Did you check your connection? Mine was loose, but it still did it after I plugged it back in and put some tape on the connectors to make sure they would come loose again. I know on my 85 GSL the pump dosen't start pumping until I am cranking the car over. So it might be a connection at the ignition switch. pull your steering column panels off and check it out, and let me know what you see. I'll trace the electrical lines today after i get out of my classes.

edit: man i type slow, you beat me to it.

 

Have you checked that you are not getting power to the fuel pump by testing with a volt meter? I believe the fuel pump does not turn on until the starter engages on the 84 and 85 cars. Just turning the key on will not send power to the fuel pump like it does in pre 84 cars. Try disonecting the wires from the fuel pump and chech for voltage while someone trys to start the car. If you have power then it has to be a blockage in the fuel line. Check the filter, if that is ok there are also filters in the carb. on the bolts that secure the fuel lines to the carb. If you do not have power when someone tries to start the car I am afraid it is some nasty electrical gremlin that will be difficult to track down. Are all of your other systems functioning? If there are other systems not getting power it is definately an electrical problem. Obvious places to start looking would be your grounds. Sometimes these get corroded over time and cause electrical problems. YOu might try running a new ground wire directly from the battery to the body. Another possibility could be in your ignition switch which would control the turning on and off of the fuel pump. I had one of these go bad on my 79.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks guys for the quick responses. I put a volt meter on the connectors to the fuel pump and turned it over, but no juice to the pump, so this seems to be the problem.

The only clue I have is that most of the dash warning lights don't come on when you turn on the ignition key, except for the brake and seatbelt lights. All the fuses appear to be in good shape and all the electrical systems are functioning normally - lights, horn, turn signals, radio, windows.

So it probably is some kind of electrical gremlin, as tm and rotofire suggest. I'll go look at the ignition switch.

Any more suggestions greatly appreciated!

Ray

 

just go buck-wild with your voltmeter around the igintion switch. and keep an eye out for corrosion as tmking66 suggests. No problem.

 

OK, I looked at the ignition switch and nothing looks worn, burnt or bad, but who knows. So I wired a jumper from the rear hatch light to the fuel pump electrical connector that's under the driver's side rear storage bin and now everything works. I just need to remember to unhook the fuel pump when I turn the car off.

So now I guess I have an unintended antitheft device. Still, I'd like to know why the fuel pump isn't getting any juice when the ignition is on. I guess I'll need to study that ignition switch some more.

Thanks for the quick help on this, I'm on the road again!

Ra7

 

Magnetic solenoid under the dash. '84 and '85 FBs have a solenoid that makes the pump run for a few seconds when you put the ignition key in the on position. Then it won't turn on until the engine is running. The solenoid might go bad, resulting in the pump not getting juice.

The handling, short of replacing the solenoid, you can find here:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hreadid=273215

Good luck

 

the exact same thing happened to me. i ended up getting a good stock fuel pump from rx7carl.

 

I'm lost, completely lost, but that's OK, the cars is running fine. O yeh, did I fail to mention, the tach isn't working (found this out when I got it out on the road, to drink beer with rotor heads). So, what do you think, trailing ignitor, or something like that?

Ra7

 

well for one drinking and driving ain't cool we loose rx7s that way. check your connections and put a voltmeter on your trailing to check it out.

 

You are of course exactly right YapaKanichi, drinking and driving is not a good idea. Thanks for this reminder.

So it turns out it was the trailing ignitor. Not wanting to take the time to put together the tester described in the Haines manual, and not wanting to stress over how to use the volt meter correctly, I simply unplugged the trailing ignitor while the engine was running to see if it was doing any good. It wasn't.

There was no change, a nice smooth idle, although there was some popping and stutters that I wasn't getting before this problem came up. So I replaced the bad ignitor with one from a spare distributor that I picked up on ebay, which fortunately was a good one. This fixed everything, the tach works and I've removed the fuel pump jumper to the rear hatch light.

But I'm keeping the jumper and a spare ignitor in my on-board repair kit, next time I should be able to save a tow charge and a bunch of time.

Again thanks for the help on this!

Ra7