Fuel Pump Vacation Fun

[AirmanPika]

Well since I am on holiday vacation from balmy Greenland, I figured I would finally swap the fuel pump out with the modern DMC one. Considering how much I have had to mess with the old setup, it was actually a rather simple job to swap. The biggest pain was draining the tank since I can never get a siphon to work thanks to the tank position. Lots of pumping as there was about 8 gallons in the tank. After that tho, the job was stupid easy. Plopped it all in per the instructions, hooked up the hoses, and vroom all good. Not counting the draining of the tank it was maybe an hour of work at best. I didn't install the new fuel filter just yet as my current one is only about a year old if I recall correctly. I may still do that tho just to ensure a clean system throughout.

One odd thing came up that is a new issue tho. For some reason my starter just isn't going at times. Turn the key, everything lights up, I hear relays click...no starter. Battery is charged so I know the car isn't dead. It sometimes just takes 2....or 10 key turns to get it to trigger and it fires right up. I guess my brother noticed it back in September and now I see the behavior too. Sound like the starter relay may be acting up?

[DMCMW Dave]

Well since I am on holiday vacation from balmy Greenland, I figured I would finally swap the fuel pump out with the modern DMC one. Considering how much I have had to mess with the old setup, it was actually a rather simple job to swap. The biggest pain was draining the tank since I can never get a siphon to work thanks to the tank position. Lots of pumping as there was about 8 gallons in the tank. After that tho, the job was stupid easy. Plopped it all in per the instructions, hooked up the hoses, and vroom all good. Not counting the draining of the tank it was maybe an hour of work at best. I didn't install the new fuel filter just yet as my current one is only about a year old if I recall correctly. I may still do that tho just to ensure a clean system throughout.

One odd thing came up that is a new issue tho. For some reason my starter just isn't going at times. Turn the key, everything lights up, I hear relays click...no starter. Battery is charged so I know the car isn't dead. It sometimes just takes 2....or 10 key turns to get it to trigger and it fires right up. I guess my brother noticed it back in September and now I see the behavior too. Sound like the starter relay may be acting up?

Weak battery? VIN is high enough that the starter recall should have been done. Check the connections at the circuit breaker (the one with 4 wires plugged on to it). Swap the start inhibit relay with a headlight relay and see if that makes a difference.

[David T]

Or it could be a bad starter solenoid. Check for voltage right at the wire going into the starter if you hear everything clicking. If you have voltage on the starter it could be a bad starter or worn out brushes.

[AirmanPika]

Looks like it was the relay. I popped the old one back in and I haven't had a single fault since then.