Hi, I need help trouble shooting my 89 t/a(5.0L TPI). I haven't driven it in awhile so when I went to move it the other day, battery was dead! No prob, grabbed a spare battery and jumped started it. Decided to let it idle awhile in the drive and went inside. Came back out and the car was not running! I then discovered that I ran it out of gas. Could this have damaged the fuel pump because it won't run and I can't hear it prime when I turn the key.

What is the best way to figure out if it is a pump, relay or a fuse. I haven't a clue where the relay and the fuse would be.

 

like a test light.... You need to plug a test light into the terminal of the ALDL for your Car and hook the other side to ground..Crank the Car over and see if the light comes on after 7 seconds of cranking.( this checks the oil pressure fuel supply switch if it lights then you got power to the pump circuit ) .. then reverse the connection and place it on 12 volts with the Key off and see if it lights.( this verifies you have a connection to the pump and it is drawing over 1/2 amp power ).. Then take a jumper wire from the lighter socket or battery and apply 12volts there.( this will manually activate the pump ).

At ignition time you place the Key in the on position only and wait 5 seconds.. the Service engine soon light will come on for Light test and it will blink once after the steady light if you have a code in the computer.( this is the system Prime before power state..) your pump should engage...If not and you checked with all other tests your RELAY is faulty..( Cranking excessive and fireing up means the fuel Pump relay is faulty..)

This is an insider tip... Take the Cap off the distributor of a fuel injected vehicle and take a large Metal object which is not sharp... and tap the magnet pickup under the rotor... this will get the computer to send a signal to the fuel pump at will..2 second fuel signal will activate pump when a signal is detected at the distributor..( knewer vehicles use this to Operate the pump and sense if the engine is still running..).

 

DB89,

Don't always assume the worst. Just because you can't hear the pump doesn't mean it isn't running. A dry pump can be fairly quiet. Put about five gallons of fuel in the tank ad try it again.

When you activate the ignition, allow the pump prime cycle to run for two seconds, then shut off the ignition for 20 seconds. Turn on the ignition again to run the pump cycle one more time. If you do not allow the ignition to remain off for the specified period, the ECM may not run the pump prime cycle again.

Each time you run the pump, you should be able to hear the relay on the firewall operate. Another method to initiate the pump syscle is to simply "bump" the starter enough to create a distributor reference pulse, but the background noise created by the starter may preclude you from hearing the relay operate.

If there is no relay actuation, check the ECM memory/fuel Pump fuse (near the battery). There should be a good 20A (yellow) fuse in the holder.


If neither the pump not the relay will operate, and the fuse is good, check back for more ideas.

 

Incidentally,

Welcome Aboard!

 

Thanks guys i'll give it a shot!