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The fuel pump is in the gas tank, the tank has to be drained and removed to replace it. It's not a job for a beginner.
a few weeks after the purchase the car started to idle funny when i came to a stop, after a few days of doing this it stalled for the first time, i thought it was something to do with the fuel system because the gauges still worked, so i started it back up and it did it again a few days later.
i replaced the idle air control valve, beaucse i bought one of the diagnostic tools from autozone, and a hanes do it yourself book, and with both of those it tells me im running rich, and to change it out, so i drop 90$ on the sensor and replace it, of course 4 days later it does it again, and now it does nearly every time i stop, and i dont know what to do. the rpm's always go down below 500 before cutting out unless i catch it in time throw it in neutral and rev up the engine if any one has any thing on this let me know
Thanks
If you hydro-locked the engine, it's toast. All the rods are bent. Hope it's just the starter motor.
I think you did hydro-lock it, sad to say, but let's hope not. See if the engine turns or not! A water-soaked air filter is a bad sign.
Is this a stickshift? If so, you can just put it in 2nd gear and push the car gently by hand and see if the motor rotates.
You should probably remove all the plugs, spin the engine to get all the water out, and do a compression test for starters. If compression is decent, put in new plugs, drain the oil and change the oil and air filter and crank 'er up and see what happens.
:lemon: :sick: :mad:
Jimbo
It was the pass lock system, I reset it and is working fine,
this is a great site.
thanks for the help and information
Jimbo
The lastest was 2 days ago. He came home from work in the evening (car was running fine). He went to go to college the next morning and the car briefly started and then died out. Couldnt get it started again. I went to Auto Zone and picked up one of those $40 code readers. The code came back on his car as (P0171 Bank #1 Lean) So he took my wifes car to school and Dad went to work on his car.
I pulled the car into the garage (unheated but warmer than outside) and put 2 bottles of heat in the gas figureing since it was 10 degrees outside where he parks and that he just got gas the night before he probably got some water in the system which plugged the fuel system. I put the battery charger on his battery to bring it back up and went and got a small space heater to keep the inside of the garage above freezing while I worked.
I tried allot of the info I got here but nothing seemed to work. I really didnt want to drop the tank but after checking and swapping out fuses to make sure the obvious wasnt wrong I decided the fuel pump had to be the culprit. The key hear like others have said is if you turn the key to the on position without cranking the car and you dont hear a humm under the center of the car where the fuel pump is located its more than likely the fuel pump.
Theres some other issues. I live near O'hare airport so theres always planes flying overhead so I really couldnt hear well till it was in the garage anyway. Then you have the ding-ding-ding to contend with when the doors open or the key gets turned on. I found out to eleminate the ding-ding-ding you go to the passengers side of the car, open that fuse box by the door pillar and the bottom fuse that says RADIO is the one you want to pull. That will disable the radio and also the ding feature which was worth it to me! Theres also a neat fuse puller thats located in the engine compartment in the main fuse box if you dont want to use pliers or needle nose to get it out.
Now for anyone wanting to do this themselves I would rate this as about an 9 out of 10 in the skill level department to pull off. The fuel pump cost at my Auto Zone was $240. It comes with basic instructions, fuel pump assembly and a new rubber O-ring. The same part at the Pontiac dealer was quoted as $505. So naturally I went with Auto Zone.
I would like to caution anyone doing this job that theres lots of gas fumes to contend with so extreme caution is urged so you dont blow yourself up and think before making power changes in a potentially enclosed area with gas vapor! Common sense rules.............
I first disconected th battery from the car so theres wasnt any sparks with gas later on and messing with quick disconnects/cannon plugs. I jacked up the car and put 2- 4X4's under all 4 tires to get the car up about 8" up in the air. I also set the emergency brake and kept the car in park so there was no tendancy for it to roll off the blocks. After that I also put a few jacks up un the engine frame so if the car slipped off the wood blocks I wouldnt get crushed under the car
Theres 2 cannon plugs that need to be disconnected underneath by the back right corner where the fuel tank is located. there was also a third plug there but it was a dummy plug with no wires. Maybe for a differant option that my sons car didnt have? Theres little red safety clips that will first need to be pulled out before the quick connects can be undone. Theres also a big black vapor box that you use a single 10mm socket on and then it slides off to one side and can be removed and put somewhere out of the way. Theres a heat sheild that you have to remove with 4 screws and one plastic push in plug and then you can wiggle that out and put that away. Theres also 4 connections that will have to be undone. 2 go to that black vapor box. They gave me a little trubble until I figured them out. You have to kinda grap the clip in the middle, flex it forward and then pull it off. I didnt need any tools or screwdrivers for it just a little muscle. Theres also 2 fuel lines that need to be disconnected. There differant sizes so you dont need to worry about reconnecting them wrong on the reinstall. Theres a pretty well thought out clip that has to be undone to get them off. You take a very small flat bladed screwdriver and you have to use it to unsnap the first segment of the clip apart. When you do this you will have one piece that kinda flaps around on a hinge. Then you need to push the smaller end up and sorta through the sleeve but not all the way out. After this is done the end can just be pulled right out and off. I would also have a drip pan under there first since when you undo these I got about a cup of gas that flowed out of the fuel filter line. The other line only a few drips came out. Next I undone the main fuel entry rubber hose thats about 1-1/4" a round. It had a regular type clamp on it. I undid it at the upper joint. You have to work a small screwdriver around the rubber to break it free after the clamp is undone. Then pull it off.
Now basically the fuel tank in completely undone with the exception of the 2 large straps that hold it in place. Now if your like my son and have a full tank. 14 Gallons times 8# per gallon and you have a fuel tank that weighs 110#. So I got a piece of plywood about 1' by 1-1/2' long. Put it under your floor jack and get it under the plastic fuel tank and straddle in between the 2 holding straps. Now remove the 2 bolts that hold the straps. Fuel tank should be supported by plywwod and floor jack. Once the bolts are undone you can turn the straps sideways and completely remove them and get them out of the way. Now start lowering your floor jack about 3". You will need to pull the tank over towards the passengers side to get it clear of the exhaust pipe. Now lower it to the floor and slide it out from under the car.
I decided to remove the fuel while replacing the pump to make it easier to reinstall. If you do this you will need up o 14 Gallon capacity depending on how much is in the tank. I had my other son help me lift the 110# gas tank up on a cart about 2 feet in the air. This is going to be for when I drain the tank later (gravity). Now you will see the top of the tank and the large round area is where the fuel pump lives. Theres a locking colar on there that will need to be turned to remove the fuel pump. Make sure all the tabs a straight. I used a socket wrench and tappen the end of the collar to undo it. Once its undone the fuel pump will pop up about 4". Its under spring tension to hold it in place. Theres one fuel line connection on top and 2 cannon plugs (one has a safety tab that needs to be pulled before you can remove it) that will also need to de disco
Now just reverse order everything until you got it all back together. When it was completely assembled I turned the key to the on position and finally for thr first time heard the humm under the car! It only humms for about 3 seconds and then turns off. What its doing is pressureizing the fuel manafold. I did this like 3 times to make sure there was a good fuel head pressure up to the injectors. Then thend the key to start and the car fired right up. I let it run a while to make sure there were no leaks. Also make sure your garage door is open before you try starting it and let it air some of the fuel vapors out first!
The job took me 4 hours to do. I have never done a fuel pump before or removed a fuel tank. But I am a very hands on, skilled mechanic type so judge yourself if this is something you can do yourself and "BE CAREFULL"
I myself hate going to the dealers and paying the big money an appreciate forums like this that help problem solve. This is just my hopefully way to give back. ;-)
Cheers, Jim