Another starting issue..wouldn't start unless i floored the gas pedal

[Cragelarson83]

About a week ago on the way to work I made my daily stop to get a soda. When I came back out to my car it wouldn't start. I must have sat there for 10 minutes trying to start it. I would let it sit and try again. I was about to give up but then I said to myself I'll just try holding the gas pedal to the floor while starting it.. I know fuel injection doesn't call for that. after about three seconds the engine sputtered and let off the gas and floored it again and it started. This has happened to me two or three times now since i replaced the starter. That was my last no start issue. In my mind what I'm thinking is my fuel pump might be going out. But I'm not sure. I tried searching threads as usual and couldn't find anything with this descriptor. Does anybody have any ideas on what it might be? I'm more than willing to try anything to prevent that from happening again. I really really hope it's not the fuel pump because I hear those are not fun to change.

[Fleetw00d]

I've never had a bad fuel pump in the 11 CBs I've had. I changed the tank in Ruby at 300k+ because the tank itself was leaking.

The fuel pump main relay is usually the culprit, not the pump. When this happens, can you hear the fuel pump running for the first two seconds after turning the key to the "on" position? Was it a sunny day there today? A failing main relay will typically work the first start of the day when the car is cool. After sitting in the sun and heating up inside (the main relay is on the underside of the dash above the steering column) is when you'll start to have problems. Thermal cycling tends to crack the solder joints; when they heat up it opens a circuit and you don't get power to the pump. You can install a new relay, or remove it, take off the cover, and resolder the joints.

[Cragelarson83]

I've never had a bad fuel pump in the 11 CBs I've had. I changed the tank in Ruby at 300k+ because the tank itself was leaking.

The fuel pump main relay is usually the culprit, not the pump. When this happens, can you hear the fuel pump running for the first two seconds after turning the key to the "on" position? Was it a sunny day there today? A failing main relay will typically work the first start of the day when the car is cool. After sitting in the sun and heating up inside (the main relay is on the underside of the dash above the steering column) is when you'll start to have problems. Thermal cycling tends to crack the solder joints; when they heat up it opens a circuit and you don't get power to the pump. You can install a new relay, or remove it, take off the cover, and resolder the joints.

It happened at 3am. It was pretty cold... I can hear the relay click whenever i try to check it by just listening. Although in this particular situation i didn't think to try and listen to it.. I was too worried about being late to work..lol.. I wish i actually knew all the maintenance that has been done. I guess you get what you pay for ( most of the time) I'm just gonna have to start going through the car starting with the small stuff... I am going to pick up a main relay and switch it out. I've heard too many things about them going out. Thank you for the quick reply. I'm going to try testing some different things this weekend to try and figure out what some of the possible culprits may be. Any information on easy ways to check different things will help. Thanks again.

[Fleetw00d]

Best advice at this point is to get an OEM maintenance manual from Helm Inc. I don't know if they are still available new; I got mine on ebay many years ago for about $40.

Just found: https://www.ebay.com/p/?iid=39170938...pp=true&chn=ps

[cb7 calling]

I believe fleetwood is correct about this being the pump relay. You saying it started when the pedal is floored makes me thing yours failed in the fashion mine did. My pump would run with the car off occasionally and this caused the motor to flood I believe. I would sit with the gas floored for a while and it would evaporate some gas with the air allowed in, then while floored the extra air would help it start. Eventually I found out when I heard the pump running if I took the gas cap off a larger than normal amount of air would come out and the pump would shut off. That was a hundred thousand miles ago, never have fixed the relay.

[G. Wiffington]

Could be the relay as previously stated. Same thing happened to me one day at the gas pump (go figure). When I checked the relay it was hot to the touch. But, that happened to me when it was dead of summer, like 90 degrees outside. I just pushed my car out of the way, let it sit for 10 mins with my doors open to give a little bit of air then it started back up. The fact you say that it happened to you at 3 A.M. & it was not hot out makes me scratch my head.
Fuel Pump Relays aren't expensive & wouldn't hurt to replace anyway so it would be a good start IMO.

[Cragelarson83]

Could be the relay as previously stated. Same thing happened to me one day at the gas pump (go figure). When I checked the relay it was hot to the touch. But, that happened to me when it was dead of summer, like 90 degrees outside. I just pushed my car out of the way, let it sit for 10 mins with my doors open to give a little bit of air then it started back up. The fact you say that it happened to you at 3 A.M. & it was not hot out makes me scratch my head.
Fuel Pump Relays aren't expensive & wouldn't hurt to replace anyway so it would be a good start IMO.

Yeah I think I might just replace the relay because it is so cheap and it wouldn't hurt like you said. Sometimes when I go to start my car in the morning and I'm turning it over and I stop a little bit too soon it it kind of starts to turn over and then stops it's hard for me to get it started back up again I have to try a few times..
Also when my gas gage gets a little bit before the red line my car is hard to start. Like it's about to run out of gas or something so I can I get around 14 gallons every time. I think I might have stated this in a different thread so I'll leave it at that. Thanks for your help

[G. Wiffington]

Well be careful with letting your gas get too low, it could ruin the fuel pump itself.
Hopefully it is not on it's way out. I'm pretty sure the fuel pump is cooled by the gasoline so if there isn't enough it could prematurely wear out the pump.

[cb7 calling]

I am in the least bit worried about the fuel pump, I ran mine to the gas light every week for years. The fuel pump has 360,000 miles on it plus

[Cragelarson83]

I am in the least bit worried about the fuel pump, I ran mine to the gas light every week for years. The fuel pump has 360,000 miles on it plus

So how far does the needle go below the red line. I have never seen my gas light turn on not once. When it gets close to the red line it's hard to start. so I was thinking that it was about to run out of gas.

[Fleetw00d]

You should be able to check the warning light by disconnecting the sending unit connector and jumping between pin A (grn/red wire) and C (black wire). That completes the circuit to light the low fuel warning light. You might be able to jump it on the back side of the connector without disconnecting it.

[Cragelarson83]

You should be able to check the warning light by disconnecting the sending unit connector and jumping between pin A (grn/red wire) and C (black wire). That completes the circuit to light the low fuel warning light. You might be able to jump it on the back side of the connector without disconnecting it.

The only issue i have is that I'm color blind...i can't see a lot if colors that a normal person can...I'm not really capable of doing any electrical work. I hate it so much

[Fleetw00d]

For that particular connector, there are three pins, jump the outer two together.