Crispy Beef

Hi,

I started a thread the other day about what I thought was a potential problem with my battery draining, I've never - until now - had a problem starting my FD. I decided to take out the battery and slow charge it over a couple of days so I could at least fire the engine up...engine turns over but doesn't fire.

I thought at first she might be flooded, so did a search and tried unflooding with the 15 seconds with full throttle, then 15 seconds wihtout a few times...nothing.

I then noticed that I don't seem to be hearing the "clicking" sound with the ignition that you normally get, as far as I know this is the fuel pump coming on, so I checked the fuse in the drivers kick panel area to make sure it hadn't blown, seems ok, I assume I've check the correct one (according to the FSM and the attached picture). Another guy on these forums had a similar problem to this, but this doesn't seem to be the same.

There isn't a huge amount of fuel in the tank, but it's not empty and to be honest I don't think the fuel is getting through. Next think to check is if the fuel pump is operating at all, will do that later when I get home, but was wondering if this could be caused by anything else before I start pulling things apart?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Cheers.

mad_7tist

fastet way to check the pump circuit is to stick a funnel in the tank and turn the key to on. the pump will prime for ~2seconds so have a helper do it while you listen. this does not mean the pump is moving any volume of fuel but at least you know the circuit is ok

canadaisintexas

Is the engine turning over? If not get your starter tested.

Crispy Beef

Ok, have now got the car running, but was a little strange, so I think something may not be quite right somewhere...

I pretty much have an idea when the engine will start or not based on one of my gauges. It's a Billion VFC (attached), when the car decides not to start it won't be illuminated at all (this originally led me to believe it might be the battery).

On the fuel side we've had a shortage of decent higher octane fuel (98 RON - UK) so have had to put in regular (95 RON), the tank was also quite low. I finally found a somewhere to get the higher octane stuff so went and got some in a canister and put it in the 7. Turned the ignition and after several erratic clicks from what I guess was the fuel pump everything lit up...I then had to start her up using the same method as unflooding (15 seconds with full throttle, then without).

Was a bit rough to begin with but then settled down and I went and filled up with the decent fuel. Seems to be running ok now, but now and then I still get the strange clicking, could it be the fuel pump relay? As far as I'm aware the pump will operate in low pressure mode if the relay is knackered, hmmmmm....

Crispy Beef

Engine was turning over, just wasn't firing which is why I thought it might be a fuel pump problem as I couldn't hear it click on...