Strange, strange problem.

[Morton]

Yo Y'all.

Picture this: car's been running smoothly all day, not a hitch. I stop outside Autobarn on level ground, and go in to do some shoppsing. I change nothing in the car, at all. I come out, ten minutes later, and start her up: splutter-splutter-splutter-backfire-silence.

I try again - same result. It misses exacly like a car that's out of gas, for about a second, then stalls. I had a 3/4 tank, so I tried cranking her over once more and all she does is wind up then die, without even trying.

It was a bloody hot day, so I hang a damp cloth over the fuel lines for a few minutes while I swap over all the relays in the fuse box... no change.

Over the course of the next half hour I try turning her over a dozen times while I chat away on my phone and wait for the car to cool down a little.

Okay, bored now. So, I unscrew the engine-bound fuel line and crank her over to see if the fuel pump is working... nothing comes out. I screw that back together and unscrew the return line to crank her over... nothing. Then, when I stop turning her over, this massive almighty surge of petrol flies forth from the return line, much like it should, straight out of the engine bay, all over the blue falcon next to me. I fix the line back up, crank her over again, and she runs smoothly like there was never an issue...

What did I fix O_o

??? W.T.F. ???

[Fu Manchu]

some sort of blockage, be it air or dirt.

[pow3rslave]

i'm gonna go with "you fixed the falcon, take THAT ford!"

[88GreenVN]

Fuel pump on the way out????

[burnz]

vapourlock
remove fuel cap and try again

[markovr]

You better fix the fuel pump before it does it to you for good.Mine did the same thing but it didnt come good.The copper on the commutator on the pump was worn through where the brushes run against it and in one position didnt make contact.So it was like russian roulette everytime I turned the car off ..............lucky it was in the driveway.... the day before I was 200 km away.
If your tank is full you will have to drain it out to change pump over.

[VRV666]

A good way of seeing if it is the fuel pump is next time (if) it happens again, kick the shitter out of the underneith of your fuel tank and try again. If it starts fine I suggest going straight home or straight to your mechanic. They dont give much warning before completely packing it in.

[Morton]

Sounds fair enough. I was planning to get the fuel pump replaced during my next service in a couple of weeks, so bringing that date forward won't hurt Good time to replace the fuel filter, bleed the brakes, etc. Are there different types of fuel pump? Different brands or capacities, that anyone would recommend?

[2greedy]

sounds like vapour lock to me?

[Morton]

Alas, it is not that simple.

Car died for good the other day; me and chris (smokey) narrowed it down to the fuel pump. (it wasn't humming on the second level of ignition acc, which it should to prime itself). So parts were bought, the tank was drained, and many fun hours were spent on the side of the road under the car, removing and replacing the fuel pump. (whie chris changed a busted injector terminal and my memcal.)

So with a brand new fuel pump + filter, I get a good 100km out of her. Next time I go to start it, brrap-blump-splutter-pop-nothing. Turn the key to acc, and I hear that deafening silence from the fuel pump yet again.

Out with the voltmeter, and the white plug (just outside the fuel pump unit), reads a jumpy 8.4ish volts when the ignition is turned to acc, then dies off. I presume it's only meant to supply a short period of voltage to prime the pump. When the engine is cranked over, a similar level of voltage is recieved, but without the dying off.

Question 1: Is this the correct voltage, or should I be expecting something closer to 12v?

Question 2: If this IS the correct voltage, can I safely assume that my problem lies somewhere between the plug and the new fuel pump? Everything looked alright when I pulled it out, and it ran well for a hundred kays. Perhaps a bad connection or a rusting plug... or something more sinister?

Question 3: Could I be *ucked jack-standing the car up -again-, draining the tank -again- (I have 20+ litres this time, not 9), and removing the entire unit -again- (+ all the petrol spills), to check it out on a 35+ degree day? (not to mention getting the unit back IN, which takes an hour at best. )

[VN_Luke]

check and clean DFI module connector and pins on DFI modulue thoroughly.

form memory this is remotely part of the circuit that powers and primes the fuel pump, and is prone to badness...

if you can find a new DFI module to experiment with (presuming the above doesn't fix it), it would be worth a shot.

[modcon]

I have just experienced a similar problem, my VN was running sweet, then I started it one afternoon and drove about 20m and it stalled, so I tried to start it again and it would fire but wouldn't hold it would just stop, gave the fuel tank a hard knock and it started, stopped 1/2 an hour later to get petrol and when I tried to start my car it done it again, same thing gave the fuel tank a good knock it started sweet, drove to my brothers workshop put it up on the hoist and turned the ignition on and nothing from the fuel pump - move the wires and the fuel pump kicked into gear. Long story short the wiring was faulting, don't know if this will help but maybe check your wiring