Hey guys - I posted a thread a month or so ago about my father's 87 that would start, then stop, and when the test power was applied to the G terminal of the ALDL, the fuel pump refused to run. We replaced the fuel filter, and the pump, and the old and new pumps worked fine. I even tested the whole damn assembly out of the car, and it worked fine. We put her back together, started it up, it ran for 10 minutes and died out - again, the fuel pump wasn't running.

My dad then replaced the fuel relay, and was going to replace the ECM and oil pressure switch before I got pissed - this didn't make any sense - I knew there was something I was missing - so I cleaned the engine ground, and then went after the ground wire back at the fuel pump assembly - but ground and power to the harness, but no joy.

I then tore the whole assembly out of the car again, and tested it at the line connector going in up top - no joy. Then, we disconnected the pump connector itself, and sure enough, the pump comes to life. I then tested at the top of the assembly again, and we hear a loud 'pop', and the motor starts humming.

Turns out that there is a small connector between the pump/fuel gauge sender and the connector outside of the tank - it is right below the lip of the fuel filler tube - and all three of the connections were corroded, and the power connector was corroded and burnt, and broken, AND, the plastic around it was MELTED!!!! This was where the 'pop' came, and it was the source of the intermittent power to the pump.

Needless to say, we'll be soldering these back together, and adding some grease.

Quite the ordeal just to make her run - but my frustration can hopefully circumvent some of your own!!

:seeya

 

Wow!! Thanks for the info, it will definitely help someone as I think I might have a similar problem with a friends.

 

Yes, thanks for posting that it will probably help someone else down the road.
:seeya

 

Corvettte Fever had a story on the same problem.
A subscription to both Corvette mags might have helped.
Old cars!

 

Possibly, but then it isn't my car, and so I may not have paid close enough attention to remember the article - anyway, the bottom line is that once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth!!

A little Holmes' deductive reasoning saved the day!!

:seeya

 

I wish I saw this when you first posted... I had the same problem years ago in my 87' Left me standed twice (and 2 fuel pumps later I figured it out..)