No fuel rail pressure

Andy.MacFadyen wrote: There is fuel in the tank?

Been there :blush:
The thought crossed my mind in this instance too..

No kinks in lines, disconnected outgoing fuel line from filter, Key on, hear fuel pump, no fuel through filter,tried starting, no start. Disconnected filter, blew through it, no obstruction. Dropped tank saved gas and have the unit at my disposal. Electrical connections like fine. No CEL. Any other checks before condemning bad pump?

voltage drop testing

Neglected to mention that already. Everything seems fine on the electrical side so not sure what else

Kinda sounds like the impeller came loose of the pump motor... You could confirm this by dunking the pump in fuel and manually applying power and ground (in the correct polarity) to the pump. Carefully, of course. Be fire safe, keep any arcing away from the fuel vapors.

If the motor spins but doesn't move any fuel, then it's pump time.

That was going to be my next course of action. Just waiting for some test wires to arrive in the mail today. I absolutely do not want to bench test this thing in close proximity with the battery. A little frightened honestly

Can a less flammable Source be used? Can I use water?

Also am I supposed to momentarily power the unit? ( not leaving power and ground connected for an extended Period Of time)

Donnyten wrote: That was going to be my next course of action. Just waiting for some test wires to arrive in the mail today. I absolutely do not want to bench test this thing in close proximity with the battery. A little frightened honestly

Sweet! Good thinking, sir. I'm always nervous about working around fuel. Ended up making a switched jumper wire for stuff like this, trying to control sparks.

Can a less flammable Source be used? Can I use water?

I was wondering about that as I was posting! I suppose you could? My concern was potentially causing the pump internals to rust. Plus, I'm not positive if the brushes and/or commutator are exposed to fuel or not.

Donnyten wrote: Also am I supposed to momentarily power the unit? ( not leaving power and ground connected for an extended Period Of time)

Nah, you can run it all you want. That's pretty much what the car does with the engine running, anyway.

Well I'm glad I did that because the fuel pump shoots fuel out. Looks like I have to retrace my electrical testing

Donnyten wrote: Well I'm glad I did that because the fuel pump shoots fuel out. Looks like I have to retrace my electrical testing

Really! :huh: But you heard the pump running during your no start testing... Now I'm confused. :lol:

Are you able to wire a headlight bulb across the pump terminals on the vehicle? That'd be a sufficient load for the pump circuit, without having to reinstall the tank and pump. We want to see the bulb light with the prime, and during cranking.

Also, do you have access to compressed air? With the tank out, you can blow through the fuel lines from end-to-end. I think Ro-longo asked earlier, but are you sure the quick disconnect fittings didn't get crossed up at the rail?

Sorry sir, not trying to interrogate you! Just don't know where we went wrong. :pinch:

Hey man. The interrogation as welcome.

To re clarify. zero pressure at the rail, the fuel pump Primes briefly as it normally would.. checked the lines to see if they were bent or leaking following back to tank. I went to the filter and disconnected the line there from the pump. Key on no fuel. Did a quick voltage drop on ground and power sides just to make sure voltage wasn't being lost during prime. I noticed nothing out of the ordinary which led me to dropping the tank and manually testing it. Which seems to work so maybe I missed something. My tank has a quarter tank of gas in the fuel filter is not blocked.


I'm guessing it may be getting voltage but not enough to build pressure maybe? And if that's the case there definitely has to be some voltage drop somewhere that I missed. I need not rush

Still learnin how to use the meter

I wish I had a reliable source of compressed air. Also I don't have access to a headlamp without taking one from tha whip

Tyler wrote:

Donnyten wrote: Well I'm glad I did that because the fuel pump shoots fuel out. Looks like I have to retrace my electrical testing

Really! :huh: But you heard the pump running during your no start testing... Now I'm confused. :lol:

Are you able to wire a headlight bulb across the pump terminals on the vehicle? That'd be a sufficient load for the pump circuit, without having to reinstall the tank and pump. We want to see the bulb light with the prime, and during cranking.

Also, do you have access to compressed air? With the tank out, you can blow through the fuel lines from end-to-end. I think Ro-longo asked earlier, but are you sure the quick disconnect fittings didn't get crossed up at the rail?

Sorry sir, not trying to interrogate you! Just don't know where we went wrong. :pinch:

Donnyten wrote: Also I don't have access to a headlamp without taking one from tha whip

Maybe a smaller bulb, then? Like a turn signal? I'll settle for an incandescent test light, but a more substantial load would eliminate voltage drop concerns. I'd be very interested to know that the pump circuit continues to be powered during cranking, and not just during the prime.

Maybe just trying blowing through the pressure line from the tank to the filter? That's the last place that we saw no fuel from, anyway. NEVER seen one of those lines get kinked/restricted, but easy to check with the tank out.

Here's a good free video that may help you out.


And this one is from a Pontiac Grand Am (the Chevy Malibu with Pontiac stickers). Albeit a 4 cylinder, but the testing will be very similar.


BTW: Love the fuel pump on the kitchen counter! I could see my wife ripping me a new one for that

Thanks for the replies fellas.


I Def looked those videos over multiple times. I couldn't find anything wrong. Hooked everything back up and it shoots fuel through the rail again

:huh:

For what it's worth my battery was gone though it had nuff voltage. Had it tested multiple times with pass fail pass results. Got a free replacement under warranty. Got a new fuel rail. Just need the chassis fuel feed line with the bolt and can't find it anywhere other than a junkyard. Can anyone recommend a source where I can get this from? Only have virtual funds right now otherwise I'd be the junkyard.


Re: pump on counter.. I actually got screamed at . Place smells like gasoline now.

See, I don't mind the smell of gas anymore, but everyone else in my house does. :lol:

So, does the fuel pressure gauge on the rail still read zero? Maybe there really is some kind of restriction right there at the rail connection...?

I'd mail you one of those lines if I had a donor around! Everyone keeps their 3.1s running forever around here

It still read zero at the time of measuring when all was put back together but now I suppose part is due to the fuel rail not wanting to fully stay in all the way *fuel pouring from Inlet key on*

Ugh.... I can't find th s part anywhere. I got another rail now. Just need the pipe and I can't use the one from the 3.4 unless yall know any mechanic tricks. Or a trick to get the damn bolt off the newish rail.


New one





Old one





Unless the flex hose can come off the old one? Or can I just use some aftermarket part?

The flexible tube should come off at the quick connect union there.
I don't remember off the top of my head, (and can't quite tell from the pic) if that's the style where you just need to squeeze the tabs and poll the line off, or if you need a tool like this:

There's many styles of tools out there, I'd recommend buying a set with as many in it as you can get. Lisle makes a good set.

Noah wrote: The flexible tube should come off at the quick connect union there.
I don't remember off the top of my head, (and can't quite tell from the pic) if that's the style where you just need to squeeze the tabs and poll the line off, or if you need a tool like this:

There's many styles of tools out there, I'd recommend buying a set with as many in it as you can get. Lisle makes a good set.

That's exactly the tool I used to get it off from the car.
If you're talking about this part it doesn't look like you can get it off

Donnyten wrote:

Noah wrote: The flexible tube should come off at the quick connect union there.
I don't remember off the top of my head, (and can't quite tell from the pic) if that's the style where you just need to squeeze the tabs and poll the line off, or if you need a tool like this:

There's many styles of tools out there, I'd recommend buying a set with as many in it as you can get. Lisle makes a good set.

That's exactly the tool I used to get it off from the car.
If you're talking about this part it doesn't look like you can get it off

Alright, I see now. I saw the little lip on the end of the new one where a line would clip on and thought the old one was not disassembled all the way. Those look like two very similar but very different parts. The over all dimension and shape is way off (not to mention the flexible hose doesn't appear to be removable from your original part).