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Mon May 21, 2012 1:45 pm

Well.... We are bummin right now, 83.5 westy fuel pump seems to have gone out and tow truck says 5 hour wait. I'm wondering if there are some things I can do while I wait. Engine turns.over but no starting up. I put my ear right on the fuel pump and its dead silent, both while starting and just turning the key to on. I tried to test the wires with my multimeter but not sure exactly what I'm doing with it yet. I set the meter to 20V dc and I read nothing from the pump, so I tried 2V and got nothing there either... If anyone has any suggestions to get us going we would really appreciate it. We are stuck right near pyramid lake in Nevada. Thanks,
Kevin

Mon May 21, 2012 1:51 pm

If you are not getting any power to the pump it could be your fuel pump relay. It is in the black box on the left side of the engine compartment. There are two relay, a fuel pump and a fuel injection relay. You can try swapping them and see if that makes any difference. Do the relays click as you turn on the ignitions?

You should be able to jump power right to the pump as well.

Mon May 21, 2012 2:13 pm

Thanks wildthings for the response! I switched the two relays and now can hear a buzz at the pump. I guess that means I need a relay. Our battery is now too low to try starting, so I'm wondering if the broken relay now in the fuel injection slot still would mean that we are stuck, or would it be worth trying to jump the battery and see what happens??

Mon May 21, 2012 3:19 pm

KevbOliver wrote: Thanks wildthings for the response! I switched the two relays and now can hear a buzz at the pump. I guess that means I need a relay. Our battery is now too low to try starting, so I'm wondering if the broken relay now in the fuel injection slot still would mean that we are stuck, or would it be worth trying to jump the battery and see what happens??

The fuel pump relay gets is signal from the ECU which is powered by the FI relay, so at present both relays must be working. I wouldn't depend on this as a long term fix though. Probably best to buy two new relays, one to replace the questionable one and one to carry as a spare.

Mon May 21, 2012 3:54 pm

If that realy fails you before you can get somewhere safe, cool and selling auto parts...

In a pinch you can replace a failed fuel pump relay with a jumper wire to power the pump. As I recall, you remove the relay and connect a jumper between the fittings for pins 30 & 87.

This is not ideal (I think the pump will run constantly) -- sort of the equivalent of sticking a penny in a fuse box -- but beats dying of heat stroke waiting for help.

Mon May 21, 2012 3:56 pm

Wildthings wrote: ...best to buy two new relays, one to replace the questionable one and one to carry as a spare.

I just stick a spare in that box, along with a made-to-fit jumper wire and a special 'tool' for prying out relays:

Mon May 21, 2012 4:37 pm

Ahwahnee wrote: Wildthings wrote: ...best to buy two new relays, one to replace the questionable one and one to carry as a spare.

I just stick a spare in that box, along with a made-to-fit jumper wire and a special 'tool' for prying out relays:

Cool, very good idea. :wink:

Mon May 21, 2012 6:57 pm

My van has another one of those relays above the fuse box, that I can steal to replace one of the FI relays if necessary. Yours is a different year van but it might be worth a look.

Mon May 21, 2012 9:26 pm

I got the tow to a parts store in reno, put in the relay and it worked. Drove a hundred miles and when getting gas, I could hear the pump running when the key was off. Then when I turned the key to on it shut the pump off, now it seems as though the switch has failed. Any idea on why this is still happening? We need to drive another 150 miles to get home tonight. Thanks for all the comments.

Mon May 21, 2012 9:31 pm

KevbOliver wrote: I got the tow to a parts store in reno, put in the relay and it worked. Drove a hundred miles and when getting gas, I could hear the pump running when the key was off. Then when I turned the key to on it shut the pump off, now it seems as though the switch has failed. Any idea on why this is still happening? We need to drive another 150 miles to get home tonight. Thanks for all the comments.

Well at least you are withing range of AAA 200 mile towing. :)
Not sure at this point, maybe the new relay was bad, maybe something else. Did you put the original FI relay back in its original position?

Mon May 21, 2012 10:04 pm

Unfortunately, I already used my 2000ct mile tow on my bay window a few weeks ago... And unfortunately, I bought two new relays and replaced both the old ones so now I'm not sure which of any of them are good anymore... But I stole a wire from the engine compartment and made a jumper but our battery ran out of juice again before I could try it, so whenever this aaa guy shows we can try jumping it first with the jumper wire and hopefully get back to my garage for some real work. Thanks again.

Mon May 21, 2012 10:12 pm

Man, good luck. Sounds like your battery may need replacing too.

Mon May 21, 2012 10:15 pm

The hangover isn't helping either :cry:

But its all part of living with these beautiful machines.

*edit^ 200 mile tow

Tue May 22, 2012 12:23 pm

We made it home real late last night, got the jump from AAA and used the jumper wire to get home. Thanks for all the help. I plan on getting a quality relay(or 3) and seeing if it holds strong and going from there.

Thanks everyone!!! :)

Tue May 22, 2012 12:33 pm

Maybe check out replacing your ignition switch as well. It is an inexpensive part and it is nice to eliminate it from the troubleshooting equation.