FARKING CAR!! Just cut out and won't start.

[ENGINR]

I was driving to Winton this morning at 4.50am and not more than 100m from the driveway the car cut-out and wouldn't start again.

After almost kicking the crap out of the door (easiest panel to replace...) I checked all the fuses in the junction box (all OK) and in the relay box in the engine bay (all OK).

The car wants to crank, but I can't hear the Walbaro pump 'whining', so I'm thinking the fuel pump isn't getting power. I checked all the electrical connections, checked the terminals in the plugs (all by torchlight on the side of the road) and again - nothing. I gave up after 2hrs and had it towed home by a very understanding neighbour at 6.50am.

What frustrates me is that the car started and ran fine all week, right upto this morning when it fired up in the driveway. I drove it home from the suspension shop without a hitch last night. All I did was top up the fuel tank with BP Ultimate before 'tucking it in' for the night.

I've checked the sparkplugs for the 'white finish' that the contaminated fuel going around is supposed to give and they're all clean (thank god).

When it cut-out, the engine checklight and the turbo light on the cluster illuminated and the car sort of shuddered then stopped.

I'm going nuts over this car - to spend 4x weeks moving heaven and earth to get it ready for today then having to forfeit the event due to this sort of stupid issue which has never happend to me before has almost driven me to the point of tears (but crying won't help so I'm sucking it up).

Any suggestions on where to start hunting for the cause? I don't have the access panels in the rear floor section like the EVO/GSR, so getting access to the pump is a mission in itself.

 

[DOUGMO]

check that the main relay that powers up the fuel pump and injectors is clicking first shayne, it may have come loose in the plug when you tucked back all the loom. its a big gold 8 pin one

 

[Entaran]

you can check the fuel pump for continuity with a test light from anywhere along the wiring harness if you're prepared to make a cut.

Just slice the earth wire and put your tester across both ends and look for power. Same way as a negative earth switch, this is how we check mercedes pumps because they're next to impossible to get to on W124 chassis.

You can solder/join the connection after.

 

[ENGINR]

check that the main relay that powers up the fuel pump and injectors is clicking first shayne, it may have come loose in the plug when you tucked back all the loom. its a big gold 8 pin one

That's the MFI one behind the centre stack isn't it?

 

[bazeng]

Damn, sounds like very bad timing!

To confirm that the fuel pump isn't working, just turn it onto ign position and you should hear it prime.

If it isn't priming:

- Measure the voltage at the pump. If it is getting voltage when switching onto the ign position from off, your DC supply is ok. Now check your gnd position. Color codes for your fuel pump may be the same as the vr4 but from memory, big white/black was 12 +ve and black/white was GND. If you are getting a constant gnd and you fuel pump isn't priming, something is wrong with the fuel pump.

Now if you are not getting power to the fuel pump, do as George said, check your MPI (big chunky brass coloured thing). It is usually located under the dash somewhere (VR4 is pass side under glove box, EVO is approx the same from memory).

NOW

For it not to start, you're missing either fuel / spark.
Once you have confirmed your fuel side of things (whether it is working or not) and it still isn't starting, check your ignition side of things.

If your not too good with the multimetre etc, a quick and easy way to test your fuel pump is to pull off the fuel hose going to your return line from the rail and see if fuel comes out.

Let us know how you go!

 

[EVO-00X]

Shayne, I know you've recently had your dash out. The plugs that supply power to the fuel pump might not be plugged in properly under your dash. You'll find 2 x large white plugs behind the PASSENGER side speaker (you might want to remove your glovebox to access them), and live above the ECU. The wire supplying power to the pump is in one of those 2 white plugs and is a thick black wire with blue trace on it. Put a test light/multimeter on both sides of the plug on the black wire with blue trace and see if you get anything registering when you turn the ignition on to reds.

If you dont get a reading then your problem could be the engine control relay (gold relay behind the ashtray) or you might have a different setup where there could be 2 x relays instead of just the one gold one. I'd change the relay/s to see if that fixes the problem first.

If you are getting power at that wire then your problem is past this point. A good thing to do is remove the bum section of the back seat out and look for the black wire with blue trace and follow it through to a place where you can take another reading.

If you have a walbro fuel pump, chances are it could be one of those fake ones . We had the same drama with mik-e's pump a couple years ago where it was getting power and cranking, but not supplying fuel. Once the fake walbro was removed, the car has never had a problem since.

 

[ENGINR]

I'm not touching the car for a couple of days - I'm not happy with it at the moment so I need to distance myself!!

I purchased the Walbro from that ebay seller you recommended Rob (uddog or whatever) so I'm confident that it's a genuine item.

I need to rip the dash out again anyway to clean it up a bit (I've basically thrown the car together with everything pretty rough in order to get it to the track) so I'll put alot of time and effort into cleaning up the dash support, pad etc etc. That'll make tracing the wires easier too.