91 Sunbird Died on Road

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bigclubs

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My son was driving home when the vehicle just died. Had it towed to dealer since the car was cranking good, lights were bright but no fire in the engine. Dealer called within 30-45 minutes after opening and said the Fuel Pump was bad. Cost $1500 to fix. Yea right they are quoting replacing the pump, tank, etc. I will tow it home tonight. The vehicle is a 91 2.0L convertable with 198,000, but the motor blew 4 years ago and was replaced with a used engine. They suggest it's time to retire it, but this is kids first car and he wants to replace the pump. Questions, what should I check to possibly eliminate the pump as the problem? Looking to check fuses, relay and fuel filter before dropping the tank. Where is the pump grounded, may be a bad ground? Was running good until just quit.
 
Fuel filter wont cause the pump to not run. Apply power directly to pump to determine if pump is bad.
 
Towed vehicle home and found the 10 amp fuse was blown. Replace fuse and tried starting car, but that new fuse also blew. Suspect the pump has gone bad. Will try with test light tomarrow and see if the wires are shorted out.
 
Just a side note, fuel filters have to changed at every 10000 miles on FI cars or the pump will burn out. Running the car low on fuel all the time does the same thing.

Checking out a car in Puerto Rico ( Hyundai Elantra) last spring found a dead car with no codes. Found that the car had the original fuel filter in it still at 120K miles !( burned the pump out):eek:

My old 2000 S10 made it 226K miles on the original pump.:)

Doug in AZ:cool:
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bigclubs said:
Towed vehicle home and found the 10 amp fuse was blown. Replace fuse and tried starting car, but that new fuse also blew. Suspect the pump has gone bad. Will try with test light tomarrow and see if the wires are shorted out.
Click to expand...

Pump is probally locked up....................... its time is up ( fuse blown)

Doug in Az :)
 
Well, my son and his friends dropped the tank and replaced the pump last night. Replaced the blown fuse and it started and ran, figured everything is working now. But this morning he started the car and moved it off the ramps and out of the garage and the fuse has blown again. Any ideas where to look for a ground or wire issue? We replaced the pump with an AutoZone brand (Airtex) since the Delco was not in stock.
 
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No specific place, just have to trace harness from pump to front of car looking for short.
 
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Follow up, my son pulled the seats, and carpet away from the side wires going back to the pump connector. We checked the wires from the pump back to the fuse block and the wires were ok. Pulled the relay in the engine compartment at the passenger quarter panel. Replaced relay with a good relay and still no start. Hooked up the connector at the tank, replaced fuse and put old relay back in and car started up and ran for 2 days. Yesterday the car died on the road, so I placed a 20 amp fuse in and the car started and ran 3 miles to get back home. Son started it again and it died, fuse blown.

Now just turning he key blows the fuse. I am thinking there is a wire rubbing in the stearing column, since the column is loose and moves up and down, but son said the column has been loose for a while and never blew the fuse before.

Also thinking of wiring the pump side of the fuse post to another aux post with a inline fuse to see if it still blows. The old pump was actually good, I tested it without my son holding it (he had the wires touching which caused a spark, so I thought it was locked up).

Looked at the 2 links and will also check behind the fuse block to see if the wires have touched any metal surface.
 
bigclubs said:
Also thinking of wiring the pump side of the fuse post to another aux post with a inline fuse to see if it still blows.
Click to expand...

Probally the best bet if you cant find the short, maybe with a toggle switch for antitheft.


Not like people are stealing our old Sunbirds these days...! :D:D:D

Doug in Az:cool:
 
Well messed with the fuse block last night. With the key turned on, the right post was hot, so the left side has to go to the pump ( I think). Jumping from an aux tie in to the left side of the fuse connection blew the inline fuse. I kept it running for 7 years since I took possession, but going dead 3 times, my son is actually coming to the realization that it might be time to put the Sunbird to rest. .
Might try hooking a switch directly to the 2 wires from the pump and sending unit to see what happens. Then he will have to flip the switch just like a race car to start the engine.
 
Worth a try IMO.......................before you give up on the "ol ghost";););)

If it was me,I would run new wires all the way back to the tank, with a new inline fuse and switch.

Doug in Az:cool:
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Well to update the status on my sons sunbird: spent all day last saturday trying to trace the wires from the fuse block etc. cleaned relay contact on passenger side and main connection block on the upper drivers side quarter panel, but still fuses blew. I was looking at the wiring diagrams for fuel pump and see the ecm could be the problem. If the relay goes bad, the bypass goes through the oil pressure sending unit. The sending unit was bypassed when I installed a direct pressure guage, so it is not hooked up, so this makes me think the ecm may be bad. I finally cut the gray and purple wires from the fuel pump and connected it directly to the fuse block and the car starts and runs. I cut the purple and gray wires and attached an inline fuse. Later he found the fuel gauge was pegged past the full mark and the top motor was not working. Later found I should not have cut just the purple wire, respliced the gray wire and now the fuel gauge is working. The convertable top motor just needed the plugs reseated and now the top also works.
Guess we will wait and see how long this bypass works??
Thanks for all the suggestions.
 
it will work for a very very long time

i had to do the same thing to my 92 sunbird i just ran the ground n positive wire right to a switch to the battery n works great
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i had the same problem and i cut the wires and rand straight to the battery off of a switch mines been like that for over a year now all i have to do is turn on the switch start up the car and go
 
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