Legacy is eating fuel pumps

[ronnocoman]

Sorry for a long post. My car is a 1995 Legacy with 135,000 miles-really. It was parked for several years after the owner died. I’ve had it for about three years and replaced most sensors over that period due to codes. Mostly runs like a scalded dog except...When I bought it the owner said the fuel pump was less than a year old. I’d had it for about 9 months and one day the car wouldn’t start, no fuel delivered to engine. Replaced fuel pump and put in a new filter and tank screen. In April I took it on a trip and it ran great except once after a fill up the car would start but only idled very slowly/ 200rpm or so, then die. Fuel starvation? After about a dozen tries it fired up and ran perfectly for the 500 miles back to my home over 4 days with lots of starts and stops and fill-ups.

A week after getting home it would crank but not start at all. Fuel pump again, right? I replaced the pump with a mid-range pump from Rock Auto. After installation we went for a short test drive (15 minutes, less than 10 miles, ran great). After a 10 minute stop it acted like it had before: very slow idle and died within seconds. Wouldn’t run, got towed. On an older car I’d say it was vapor lock. Checked fuel filter for flow. Tried removing the gas cap. Let it sit for a few days. Didn’t help. I replaced it with a Hitachi pump a few days ago. It starts and runs great. I let it idle for an hour, shutting it off every 15 minutes and restarting. No problems, no codes.

Here’s the thing, the last failed pump that only lasted 10 miles runs when bench tested. What if the slow idle problem that went away once (but not the second time) is some other problem that acts like a bad fuel pump? What else could it be? Now I’m hesitant to drive the car. Any ideas?

[el_freddo]

I’d check the fuel pump relay. Maybe the contacts in that are dirty and don’t always make a good contact, making it look like the fuel pump is the issue. 

The fuel pump relay will be located on a bracket beside the main ignition/power relay. The ignition relay is a brown six pin relay. I don’t know exactly where it’s located in your model though. 

I hope it’s a simple fix like this. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[lmdew]

Yep Relay would be my bet.

[ronnocoman]

Thanks for the replies

. I had originally thought relays were either good or bad, never intermittant. After your replies I did a little research and found out that I was wrong, they can be erratic. I'll put one in next week and cross my fingers. I'll probably disassemble the old one and look for corrosion or damage. Thanks!