Hey all, I've got a big problem. When I was heading home yesterday on the expressway, I had gone about 20 miles @ an average speed of 85ish, windows open, stereo loud, and all of a sudden, no response from gas pedal. No warning, nothing. I look at tach, RPMs are at zero. I'm thinking WTF, I pull over, and try to restart my car. Will crank all day long, but sounds like it is getting no fuel. The car has over half a tank of 93 octane in it. I turned the key to the ON position, to listen for fuel pump - no humming. Checked fuel pump fuse, was OK. Is there anything, other than fuel pump and/or FP relay, that would cause this?? Also, which relay under the hood is the FP relay?


The car is totally inoperative right now, and I don't have the money to have it towed to a shop and diagnosed for sure. I know this has probably been beaten into the ground, but someone was saying that the oil pressure switch failing can cause this also? Oil pressure actually was higher than normal that day...could that have anything to do with it?? I'm leaving on vacation on Monday, (Aug. 5) so I won't be able to fix it until after I get back (Aug. 18). Any help would be very much appreciated! I did do a search, but I didn't see anyone with my exact problem and car. It's an 88 Trans Am GTA 5.7 TPI.


PS - does anyone have any recommendations for an aftermarket fuel pump that they've had good luck with?? I don't want to put in some cheapass off-the-shelf pump and have it break again. For the record, I'm planning on installing a Holley AFPR and a Hooker catback, and currently have a Random Technologies high flow cat and SLP headers. TIA for any help!

 

Check the FP fuse near the battery, or maybe just take a spare 20A with you:



If you have no fuel pump operation, you'll need to tow it somehow. You can check the fuel pump voltage right at the relay. Remember that the ignition must be off for at least 20 seconds before the fuel pump will cycle again to prime the rails.

As for the auxilliary oil pressure switch, it's failure should not prevent the pump from running. If you study the schematic, you'll see why:

 

Hey Vader, thanks for all the help... I actually did have the car towed back to my apartment, so I went out and checked it just now. Guess what - not the fuel pump OR relay. Both are working now. But it still won't start. Now I'm pissed cause I have absolutely no clue what's causing this. Has fuel? check. Battery OK? Check. Cranks over? Check. WTF, could a bad ignition module or ECM, or distributor, or coil, or ??? cause this? The coil is an Accel unit that has less than 10k miles on it. That shouldn't be the problem. I checked every fuse in the under dash fuse panel, those are all OK. The fuel pump fuse is good (obviously). Now I don't have a clue how to fix it. Do you (or anyone else) have an idea of what the problem is??

 

I would check to make sure you are getting spark.
There are several ways to do it.
What I did, which I don't know if i would recommend since you can get zapped, is remove one of the spark plug wires, use either the spark plug thats in there, or an old one and hold the spark end against the exaust manifold, if it sparks you have power, and it's not that.
If you do this, I would recommend at least wearing a pair of leather gloves, and hold the spark plug wire by the rubber boot.
You said you check and the fuel pump and relay are working.
I'm not accusing you of being stupid, but did you actually check to see if you had fuel at the injectors or did you just hear the fuel pump running?
Sometimes the fuel pump will run, but it may not be pumping fuel.
Good luck.

 

I was in the same situation you are in, my car died on the spot, I had no spark so I changed the ign module and pick up coil. Check these things out.

 

Check the fuse at the front of your car as seen in Vadors's post next to the battery. I had the same problem as you and first changed the fuel pump (which was bad). A few days later my car did just what your car did and I thought the new pump was defective so I installed another pump to no avail! It turns out that that fuse let go and after all the headache of doing my fuel pump twice it would have been nice to have had checked it first! Good luck.

 

Here is an update on my situation...

I want to say thanks to everyone that posted to help me out. It helped a lot. I think I've gotten it taken care of. Today I pulled the ignition module, and ran it into the auto parts place where I work to have it tested. Guess what. It's completely toast. Sooo, I think I've pinpointed the problem - assuming, of course, that the ignition module is the only thing that's bad. This brings me to my next question...

Do any of you guys or girls have any experience with the Holley or Accel ignition modules?? What's the difference between the GP Sorensen one I can get at work for $25 and the Holley one that retails for $60? Is it worth the extra $$$? I think that as long as I'm replacing it anyway, I may as well put a hi-po one in there instead of some junk off the shelf. Anybody use these?