Robert M Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 The wires going to the fuel pump were reversed. (duh on me) A big thanks to everyone who tried to help on this thread, especially KStretch55 who said: Check for polarity reversal. Car is running and will be licensed this week! HI, My name is Robert and I'm a pretty good mechanic, but a newbie. I live up in Seattle, and this is my first Subaru. When I'm not working, I write science-fiction and crime stories. You can read some of them and check out some fantastic pics from NASA at http://www.freewebs.com/adventurebooks. Check out the free Mars Poster, if you can find it. It's there somewhere. Well, it drove here okay, although the fuel pump leaked and there was no alternator.It's an 87 GL 4wd wagon with non-turbo, single-point fuel injection, 1.8L. Body is very good, everything else works, it only has about 150K miles. I changed out the fuel pump. It seems to work. New alternator, and a tune-up. Car turns over, but no gas is getting to the fuel filter, or very little. Not enough to start the car. Also, under the hood, a small relay keeps clicking about every two seconds when the key is on. I don't think it's keeping the car from getting gas. This car sat for a long time with not much gas in the tank. I added five gallons. Gas runs out freely from the in-line (tank side) when you pull it off the fuel pump. Turn on the key with the out-line disconnected and the pump runs, but little or no gas comes out... I have two brand new pumps I've already bought and tried, so I don't think it's the pump. The old pump leaked and the previous owner bypassed the normal wiring to the relay. I rewired the thing, grounding one wire, and hooking up the hot lead to a wire coming out of the fuse box. This fuse box wire shows it's a hot wire when the key is in the on position. When I switch on the key, the pump runs, and runs....and runs....no gas to filter up front, or very little.??? When I pour gas down the throttle body, it starts right up for a few seconds until the fuel runs out. Any thoughts on this one??? What the hell...I look at the wagon and just KNOW I'm going to have a lot more fun in this one than in my old Toyota. Sooner or later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted May 24, 2005 Author Share Posted May 24, 2005 Decided to add some info to my previous post, maybe it will help if someone wants to try and figure this one out. First, the car ran great getting here, even with the leaky pump and running on a battery w/o the alternator. Now it has new alternator. fuel pump, and tune-up parts. The pump comes on when the key is on. But, I did rewire the pump to a heavy black wire coming out of the fuse box, one shown on the diagram as a hot lead when the key is at on or start. I grounded the other wire. I wondered: what if there is a voltage drop when the car is turning over and the pump isn't getting enough juice? I saw a thread where someone hooked up their fuel pump to the hot side of the coil, with a switch (for safety). Think this could be the problem? It's the only thing I actually changed on the car, the fuel pump wiring...??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooziewhatsit Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 I'm not quite sure if I can help, but I can at least reply :-) First off, the ticking under the hood when the key is turned to 'on' is because the two green connectors under the hood near the wiper motor/brake filler are connected. These are used in some diagnostic modes to do stuff. They should be disconnected normally. However, with these green's connected, the fuel pump should be pulsing with the ticking under the hood. If the pump isn't pulsing, there's a problem somewhere. Is there a particular reason you decided to re-wire the pump? I suppose you could be trying to pull too much current from the hot-lead you tapped into. Another thought... Are you sure you got the polarity correct on the pump wiring? I guess one cause could be that it's wired backwards to pump gas back into the tank, which would explain why the out line from the tank will leak, but the pump won't pump it out. I can check tomorrow what the polarity should be. I also just got a car that sat for 6 years with less than a third of the tank. The fuel pump had also died on it. I just got a new pump, hooked it up to the existing harness, and let it pump most of the old gas out. Put new gas in, and it fired right up :-/ good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted May 24, 2005 Author Share Posted May 24, 2005 There are only two wires to the pump, red and black. I grounded the black one and hooked up the red to the hot lead. Since the car ran normally before, even with the missing alternator and leaky pump, I have to suspect this is the problem. Small amount of gas is getting up front, enough to put SOME into the filter, but that's all. Maybe when I fire up the motor, the current draw is too much and there isn't enough coming through for the pump to work properly. Tomorrow I will hook the hot lead from the pump directly to the hot side of the coil, and install a switch, maybe this will work. Someone on another thread did this (switch is for safety in case of an accident) and it worked. Since I changed nothing else on the car, I think this may be the problem. Maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
critical_max Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 Have you changed the fuel filters? If the tank was sitting it could have gotten rusty. just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 Cast another vote for the filters. Can you get gas to pump to the filters if you uncouple the hose at the filter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 You might try disconnecting the fuel line where it enters the filter and see if it's pumping that far. That would tell you if it's the filter or not. As far as the wiring, one of the mysteries I haven't figured out yet is that the pump relay gets power somehow from the coil. So, you'll hear the pump run briefly when you turn the key on, then it will quit. Then when you turn the key to start and the engine turns over and supplies voltage to the coil, the pump will start again (though you may not be able to hear it over the starter and stuff). Maybe someone else can help clarify this. The backward polarity sounds like a possibility, if you didn't use originally equipped plugs on the pump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gravityman Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 You also may want to replace the fuel line between the pump and the filter. If the old pump was bad which may have been caused by debris coming up from the fuel tank, it could have caused a blockage in the fuel line before the filter, in return backing up the fuel pressure and causing the pump to leak. I hope this helps!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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