bad fuel pump?, throwing fuel pump code Options

[Red_06_EvoRS]

The car: 1993 Eclipse GSX, 5 speed.

The problem: I was cruising down the highway Thursday and, for no apparent reason, the check engine light came on. The car continued to run fine the last couple of miles home. I put the logger on and it pulled a fuel pump code. I didn't clear it but did drive it to work and back home again Friday with no problems. The check engine light stayed off. We were out of town until today so the car didn't get driven since Friday afternoon. I was going to take it in and have it checked out today. When I went to start it, it didn't want to start. It took several long crankings to get it to fire. Whenever I put it into gear, it would die. I finally managed to get it moving but it was like it wasn't getting fuel. Around this point the check engine light came on again. After a couple of blocks, it began to run like normal.

The shop (Meineke - I've had luck with them in the past), couldn't pull any codes and the check engine light was off again. It started and ran fine for them, of course.

I seem to recall a thread on here where someone had a problem starting their car but after it finally started, it ran fine. There was some discussion about the fuel pressure draining away over time. I couldn't find that thread and can't remember if a final resolution was given.

So, the question is: when a fuel pump code is thrown, what all could be the problem, especially, with the listed symptoms?

[Red_06_EvoRS]

Soooo, nobody has anything to say on this topic? Surely, I'm not the first person on here to have a fuel pump code get thrown? Is it definitely the fuel pump? I don't want to have the fuel pump replaced and then find out that it wasn't the problem. What else could it be?

[turbohcar]

It's hard to say without actually diagnosing it in person. It does sound like the fuel pump may be the culprit as it's throwing a code.

First thing though, don't take your car to a muffler shop to have any other sort of work done. It's just a practice that I can't ever see being safe. Rick @ R&R Certified on west Washington Street would be happy to take care of you. Rick is the only guy in this area that I'd ever let work on my car. He's very knowledgeable and is pretty cheap. 828-7887 I've known him for quite awhile and have had first hand experience.

[Red_06_EvoRS]

It's hard to say without actually diagnosing it in person. It does sound like the fuel pump may be the culprit as it's throwing a code.

I wasn't actually looking for a diagnosis on my car, I just wanted to hear what experiences others have had with the fuel pump code. Was it always the fuel pump or could it be something as simple as replacing the fuel filler cap?

First thing though, don't take your car to a muffler shop to have any other sort of work done.  It's just a practice that I can't ever see being safe.

Normally, I would agree with you. But, I know Ken (the guy that runs the Meineke shop on Vernon in Bloomington) is a decent, honest guy and I feel that if they can't figure out the problem or can't fix it, they will just tell me and not screw me over. This is what they did...they couldn't pull a code so they sent me on my way.

Rick @ R&R Certified on west Washington Street would be happy to take care of you. Rick is the only guy in this area that I'd ever let work on my car. He's very knowledgeable and is pretty cheap. 828-7887 I've known him for quite awhile and have had first hand experience.

I haven't found any other trustworthy shops around so it's good to hear about your experiences with R&R. I'll give them a try and let you know how it turns out.

[The Iron Goat]

Holy cow, I think I was the one that had the thread you seek. That was WAAAAAYYY back when I had the black laser. I never had a specific code being thrown that I knew of. It ended up being the ECU causing it not to start.

If you have a logger, you can test out your fuel pump with it to make sure it's running. Also, hook up a pressure guage to your fuel line to make sure the pressure is cool. Could be a clogged filter, I suppose.

[Red_06_EvoRS]

I took the car to R&R and had Rick check it out. He pulled several codes but no fuel pump code. He found an O2 sensor code, Engine Coolant Temp sensor code, and E1, E2, & E3 codes which don't seem to mean anything. He cleared them out and I drove it for another week. The check engine light came on a couple more times during that week. He checked it again and found the exact same codes as before. This time he couldn't clear the codes so he unhooked the battery to clear everything out. I drove it for another week (with another couple of check engine lights) and took it in again. This time he only found the Engine Coolant Temp sensor code. So, he replaced that and I haven't had a check engine light since. That was about a week ago so it seems to have fixed the problem.

After all of that rambling, my question is, what does everyone use to check ECU codes? I'm just using a Palm running Palm'n'Stein and a logger cable. Apparently, I can't trust it to read the codes.

[turbohcar]

I haven't ever had to read codes on mine but had I needed to, the MMCD Vol. 2 software that I'm using is supposed to be able to read them.

Good to hear that Rick got you straightened out! Especially at the price difference between a coolant temp sensor and a fuel pump.

[natedogg]

I use the pocketlogger software for my palm. It hasn't failed me yet...but its not free either.

[The Iron Goat]

Ditto on the pocketlogger. Great software. I'm also a fan of the pocketflogger.

[Red_06_EvoRS]

Brett, where did you get the mmcd v2 software from? I've got v1.8g that I got from BudmannG. The version on sourceforge is labeled v1.5 but it shows a "test" button that is supposed to get you to a screen where you can read & erase the codes. Mine doesn't have the test button, though.

[turbohcar]

I'm not sure if it's volume 2 or not, I just know it's the most recent edition. Sorry if there was some confusion. I got mine from Budmann as well.

while in the screen that displays all of your past saved logs, there will be a tab in the upper left hand corner. Click that and scroll down to Test. That will give you all the different things to test and check.