Well I have been having a hard starting problem for a while now. The fuel pump is not turning on for 2 seconds when the key is in the on/start position. This means that I have to crank the engine so that enough oil pressure will build in order to start the pump. I have replace the fuel pump relay and that did not do anything.

When I was putting it in I went through tomp's troubleshoot chart for code 54 and noticed that on my wire harness connector the wires are not in the same place that Tom said they were. The tan/white wire is in terminal C instead of terminal A. At terminal C there should be green/white. And in terminal D there is no wire at all. But on my new fuel pump relay there is a blade like there is supposed to be something there to plug into on my harness. There is no blade there on my old fuel pump relay. Also in terminal B of my wire harness connector there is green/white instead of black/white.

I have attached a drawing of what my connector looks like. According to the chart that Tomp has posted on here in the past it should be A:tan/white B:black/white C:green/white D: nothing Erange.

Does any one have any ideas on what I should try doing? I really don't want to take it to a mechanic but if I have to I guess I have to.

 

I had the same problem. In the are where the f/p relay is, there are at least two or three relays. At least two of them are bolted to the firewall. The relay that sticks farther out is the fuel pump relay (the one on the left if you are looking at it from the front). I made the same mistake and pulled the fan relay intead. Why GM had to use the same wiring colors for both relays is just stupid. I hope this helps. And as for the hard starting, I have the same prob and don't have a multimeter, so I'm stuck in the same boat.

 

There is an AC relay in the mix also. All look so similar, been down the same road. I get a low voltage fuel pump thingy but car runs great, [has for 2 years] and I too must turn the key over a time or two to get enough oil pressure to prime the pump. Kind of annoying but liveable.

Matt

 

Gumby, is that third A/C relay bolted to the firewall in your car? Mine's only held on by a plastic wire tie and I don't know if I should permanently attach it to something or what.

 

Mine just flop around/ all of em. actually my AC one was burnt to ****. Like the contacts got hot. But I don't have ac anymore.

Matt

 

Was it burned only on the inside or was it visible on the outside? Mine flat out don't work, and I wonder if this might be one of the causes.

 

Just the inside. like t he connection got hot or were really loadded. I guess not enough to blow a fuse but to make the plug connector crispy critters.

Matt

 

On my car there was only one thing bolted to the firewall on the driver's side. I don't have AC in my car and never did. But when I was in there trying to figure out my problem I did notice another connector that was just hanging there, but it did not have any of the same color wires that there were supposed to be as far as I can tell.


.....But now that I am looking at my wiring diagrams, Maverick you may be right. Somebody may have just never put in a fuel pump relay in my car or took it out and never put it back in. I am going to check that out as soon as i can and will let you guys know how it turns out.

 

There si no way that person removed the relay. If they did, the car wouldn't run at all. You see, the relay is in fact a heavy-duty switch that conrols the heavier current load to the fuel pump and only has to be turned on by the lower current from the igniton switch or the ecm or wherever. My guess is that the hanging one is, or should be, the fan relay, and the bolted one is the fuel pump relay. You should check to see if your fan(s) have not been hardwired so they don't need a relay, in which case, they will run all the time. After you install them, it helps to label them so you know which is which.

 

My fan does not run all the time, only when the engine reaches a certain temp do they turn on. Looking at my wiring diagrams that I have there is supposed to be a fused wire running to the battery where I said there was no wire. And the wires that are in there are in the wrong places. I think that someone has messed with my wiring in the past.

Yes the car will run if the relay is not in there though. It just takes longer for to start because oil pressure has to be built in for the oil pressure switch to turn on the the pump. That is why they have the oil pressure switch there in the first place; in case the fuel pump relay fails.

 

Well, I have a new relay, and all the wiring from the battery to the relay is good and clean. But I still have to wait for the oil pressure switch to engage the fuel pump, which doesn't make sense to me, and drains my battery after a while. The fuses are good, the wiring is good, I have power to the relay (I've checked with a test lamp which gets nice and bright, showing I have a lot more than the 2VDC the comp says I am getting), and I have good connections at the relay. It still don't make sense. Should I have my connectors rebuilt? Most of the wiring on the connectors has had the insualetion pulled away from them and the only way I know to fix that is to redo the connector. Now I'm even more stumped than I was when I started tackling the Code 54 (less than 2 VDC going to fuel pump or f/p relay)... 0

Speaking of A/C, does anyone know where I can get a compressor clutch rebuild kit or how to troubleshoot the compressor?

 

Trouble shooting Code 54:

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Page 2

 

According to your first link, "the SES light will remain on while the fault exists when the engine is running", that the SES light IS intermittent when the car is running. Sometimes it's on, sometimes it's off. Also, I have always had trouble starting the engine when cold. This really has me confused.

 

go to page 5 on my cardomain site, it has troubleshooting for the cold start valve.

 

Not entirely true; there is an oil pressure safety switch. When oil pressure reaches a certain PSI, the relay gets bypassed. Power is applied directly to the fuel pump circuit from the ECM/fuel pump fuse on the passenger side upper frame rail.

Removal of the relay would result in a long cranking time (to build up oil pressure) before the car would start.

The oil pressure safety switch does NOT cut power to the pump if oil pressure drops to zero. If oil pressure dropped to zero, the pump would still run through the relay.