Guys,
i don't even know how to search on this. i'm not sure exactly what has happened.

recently i noticed my car overheating in bumper to bumper (but cooled down when i was able to drive again--but that's not my problem). got home and noticed my fan wasn't working (I connected a switch to the power wire last year so i could operate it manually).

I pulled the fan relay and noticed one of the prongs was fried. replaced it. fan still didn't work. pigtail connector was fried, too, so i swapped in a new one. fan still wouldn't work...AND...the motor was running funny suddenly (really weak idle).

i traced some of the fan wires back to my fuel pump relay on the firewall and tapped the relay while the car was idling, to see if the relay was dying and ruining my idle. when i tapped the relay the car died. haven't been able to start it since.

replaced fuel pump relay. still won't start. i don't think the fuel pump is priming, either (i don't hear it).

do you guys think i fried my fuel pump when i tapped my relay?

what do you think was causing my fan not to activate? about a week ago i replaced the ignition module because the car died on me and couldn't get restarted. i have no idea if all this is related or not. if there's a larger electrical problem in the system, i'd like to get to the root of it but electrical isn't my strong point.

i'm confused. does anyone have any idea what i should do/check next or what could be my problem?

thanks for your suggestions.

 

If you tapped the relay and the car died, it could be just a bad relay or bad connector. Try wiggling the wires and see if any come loose or if the fuel pump turns on again.
I would not worry that you damaged the fuel pump by tapping the relay. Cars are subjected to vibration and shocks all day on the road so a simple tap on the relay shouldn't kill it.

You can do some basic fuel pump circuit troubleshooting based on this short article: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=35

To troubleshoot your fan circuit, you can use the next short article: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=36

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

 

thanks for the feedback guys. and thanks for the links, Lou. i'll review and head out to do some testing.

 

i also should mention that when i turn my ignition to ACC, my SES light doesn't come on. gauges get juice, but the light is gone/out. my guess is it's related to this somehow.

 

Hmm, no start, no fuel pump, no SES.
Find the ECM/fuel fuse by the battery (a single fuse holder with two orange and/or red wires). It powers the ECM and the fuel pump. It might have blown when you tapped the relay (bad insulation on wires can easily cause a short, wouldn't be the first time).

Lou

 

Update: I discovered the blown 20amp fuse by the battery. I replaced it and it fired up, but still the motor ran very weak. i mean real weak. as i picked up the fuel pump relay, i touched a couple of the wires accidentally and the car died. my fuse was blown. repeated that again with a new fuse, and noticed a small spark coming from within the pigtail/relay as well as the fuse blowing again when i gently touched the wires.

my pigtail leads are pretty old, grimy, and stringy. my guess is that i rubbed two together and overloaded the circuit? does that sound reasonable?

Lou, do you think i should wire in a new pigtail? since you wrote those articles on ATGO, it sounds like you've been here before.

thanks for your help so far. i'm glad to know it's not my fuel pump.

 

Lou, i was writing my post as you were posting your last one.

i wanted to mention that my pigtail wires are exposed (not insulated) about 3/16" before they go into the harness. based on your last post, it sounds like i shorted the circuit. but, why would the motor run so weak? i think the connection is poor inside from age and grime. interested in your thoughts on it.

 

Yep,either replace the pigtails or
disconnect the batt. and pull each term. from the nasty relay plugs and heatshrink them to keep the wires from grounding against each other.

 

You can do that definitely. Need to do something so it won't blow the fuse and make it run weak. B/c it is intermittantly working and not b/c its not connecting good.

 

makes sense. i'll hunt down a pigtail connector and install it. thanks for the responses.

 

pigtail connector located right here
www.tpiparts.net

 

that's awesome. i wasn't aware of this site. thanks!