mother in-laws car...

[electromag8]

My mother in-law has had this car towed 6 times in the past month, now she is bugging my wife to buy a new car.

 

Heres the run down, 1996 caprice, 58,000 miles. has had about $3,000.00 in work in the past year including 2 fuel pumps, fuel filter, plugs/wires, brakes etc...

 

So I pick it up tonight and leave my truck. Started it, to let it warm up a few minutes. Come back out in 5 minutes-its not running. Left it alone for 10 minutes and it started right up. Drove about 10 minutes and it dies, did the same 5 times over in about 30 miles. You can hear the fuel pump running inside the car when it is going (number one). When you try to re-start it you don't hear the fuel pump kick on for a second (number two).

 

It almost sees as though the fuel pump is shutting off when you are driving. Does anyone have any idea of what might be going on?

[GM-Tech]

A little diagnostic info when it doesn't start would be really helpful. Does it ever not start for any length of time or is it one of those stalls and starts right back up?

[electromag8]

It will start about 10 minutes later. No check engine, checked for codes...none. It just shuts off when you are driving. When it runs it run perfect. I just don't understand!

[GM-Tech]

If you have a 10 minute window in which it won't start, you need to do some testing. Do you have GOOD fuel pressure, do you have spark, etc. Gotta start somewhere.

 

If you just want someone to guess, I guess a fuel pump, but that's an expensive guess if it doesn't fix it. It's better to do some basic diagnostic checks.

[electromag8]

I can go back at it tommorow and check spark. I am not sure how to check fuel pressure. I am not sure how to check fuel pressure.

[electromag8]

Haven't had the chance to work on it today, its pooring here. Can I check the fuel pressure by a shrader valve or something?

[GM-Tech]

Haven't had the chance to work on it today, its pooring here.  Can I check the fuel pressure by a shrader valve or something?

 

Is it port injection or TBI? If the former, yes, if the latter, no.

[electromag8]

I had some time on Sunday to attempt to troubleshoot. Had the car idling for 1 hour and it didn't miss a beat. Figured that I would drop it off at the shop Sunday night and it wouldn't start. Last night it did start...go figure.

 

Long story kind of short, the shop said that the fuel pump was improperly installed. It appears that one of the wires going into the fuel pump is toasted (thinking that it may be storting intermittantly). Incidentally, it also appears that the previous mechanic knew this by the piece of tape. This is the wire in the fuel tank. On top of that, the gas gauge was reading 3/4 of a tank (which kind of made my mechanic wonder why he couldn't siphon hardly any gas. This was because almost 1/2 of the foam float was missing (he didn't find any in the tank BTW).

 

Cost was one fuel pump bracket ($356.68), fuel pump ($148.54), sock ($17.97), Labor 2.5 hours ($155.00), Tax ($54.26), for a total of $732.45 I will probably visit her mechanic with the parts to see if he feels responsible for any of this. What do you think guys???? Thanks again to GM-TECH.

[GM-Tech]

What the heck is a fuel pump bracket for $356? Is that the sending unit that the pump mounts in? I can't imagine that costing anywhere near that amount, but I could be wrong.

 

You probably won't have much luck presenting the previous shop with the parts and asking for money, but all they can say is no, so it wouldn't hurt to try.

[electromag8]

I am not sure, all I know is that he have me back the entire assembly, I was thinking that he replaced it to replace the wiring for the fuel pump. I don't have a exploded view for the parts. I really looking to see if I am getting snowed, because I would like a good, reliable mechanic for my own stuff.

 

 

Mainly, two of my exhaust manifold studs are broken on my 99' 5.3.