Chasing Down Fuel Problem

[Dr_Shakalu]

Hey everyone. I have a 96 auto that started to have starting problems about a month ago. My car is outside in my driveway and the weather was a little wet the past month. About a month ago, my car took a long time cranking before it would start. Once started, there was no problem starting it for the rest of the day. While driving, there were no problems on not enough fuel and power felt normal. This happened every time for 2 weeks. Hard time starting, then everything normal. I just figured something got wet because of the weather. Finally 2 weeks ago, it wouldn't start. Just crank and crank. Took the plug wires out and everyone was dry. So I sprayed some starter fluid and the motor starts and runs on the starter fluid a little then dies. Tried to get the engine to stay on a few times with no luck. What should be my next step? The thing that confuses me is that why did the car run normal if my fuel pump was going out? Relay, filter, fuse...

 

[fredk]

Hey everyone. I have a 96 auto that started to have starting problems about a month ago. My car is outside in my driveway and the weather was a little wet the past month. About a month ago, my car took a long time cranking before it would start. Once started, there was no problem starting it for the rest of the day. While driving, there were no problems on not enough fuel and power felt normal. This happened every time for 2 weeks. Hard time starting, then everything normal. I just figured something got wet because of the weather. Finally 2 weeks ago, it wouldn't start. Just crank and crank. Took the plug wires out and everyone was dry. So I sprayed some starter fluid and the motor starts and runs on the starter fluid a little then dies. Tried to get the engine to stay on a few times with no luck. What should be my next step? The thing that confuses me is that why did the car run normal if my fuel pump was going out? Relay, filter, fuse...

Buy or borrow a fuel pressure gauge and check pressure. it should be low 40's if not fuel pump or fuel filter could be the problem.

 

[compyelc4]

Hey everyone. I have a 96 auto that started to have starting problems about a month ago. My car is outside in my driveway and the weather was a little wet the past month. About a month ago, my car took a long time cranking before it would start. Once started, there was no problem starting it for the rest of the day. While driving, there were no problems on not enough fuel and power felt normal. This happened every time for 2 weeks. Hard time starting, then everything normal. I just figured something got wet because of the weather. Finally 2 weeks ago, it wouldn't start. Just crank and crank. Took the plug wires out and everyone was dry. So I sprayed some starter fluid and the motor starts and runs on the starter fluid a little then dies. Tried to get the engine to stay on a few times with no luck. What should be my next step? The thing that confuses me is that why did the car run normal if my fuel pump was going out? Relay, filter, fuse...

Your first step should be to pull codes. Auto parts stores such as Advance will do this for you free. Let us know what, if any, codes are showing. Definitely do this before you just start throwing money at the problem.

 

[Tuna]

Sounds like fuel pump or a plugged filter or both.
Definitely pull the codes.
A fuel pressure gauge is a nice item to have in your tool box.

I had a '96 once and it was hard cranking then would run find - up to about 4000 RPM, then it seemed to lose power.
The hard cranking was caused by the pressure control valve in the tank. It wasn't holding pressure, so the pump had to get the pressure back up before it would start.
The loss of power was a plugged fuel filter.