Stranded... need fuel system help asap.

Hey all, where (specifically) is the fuel pump fuse that is apparently located near the battery?

Here's the situation: drove up here to Kansas city, car stopped on highway, fuel pressure gauge shows pressure for about 3-5 seconds, then drops to zero. engine shuts off. Had to leave car on highway overnight, Came back next morning, somebody stole my fiberglass hood (bastards!). Car is safe now, sitting in friend's back yard. Anyway, I'm tryin to fix fuel problem so that I can get back home asap.

I don't have my manual with me, so I need your help.

I need help locating fuel pump fuse, Oil pressure switch, fuel pump (test wire?).

I want to check all the electrical stuff before replacing the pump. I've already tried new relay with no affect. I don't believe pump is bad, cause its only 1.5 years old now, and it does produce correct fuel pressure when I prime the system without the engine running.

I do have aftermarket gauges in the dash, so the oil pressure, speedo, and rpm, don't read correct values. I'm using alternate gauges, but I don't have my oil pressure gauge hooked up so I can't tell what it is.

Any help?

fuse is located near the battery on the right side inner fender wall, looks like a plug that goes into nothing. oil pressure switch/sender is either screwed into the block right above the oil filter, or behind the intake manifold next to the distributor. good luck, and when you see a camaro with your hood on it, stop the driver, pull him/her out, and beat them until they cannot move.

I believe this has to be an electrical problem. I can get the pump to work fine everytime i turn the ignition on (i can hear it, and the gauge shows pressure) but it stops only when the engine is running. Grrr!

Is it possible that the problem could be the fuse, even though the pump works for a few seconds?

but if the fuse was bad, the pump wouldnt prime at all, would it?

Damn dude, cant believe someone stole your hood overnight. Wth..

Think about it... You know it isnt the relay, and it cant be the fuse because if it was then the pump wouldnt prime at all. You say the pump cuts off when the car is running... the answer seems obvious to me. It is eather:
A) You have low oil pressure causing the 'FUEL PUMP/OIL PRESSURE SWITCH SENDER' to kill power to the pump or
B) Your FUEL PUMP/OIL PRESSURE SWITCH SENDER is bad and needs to be replaced.
The purpose of this switch is to protect your engine from being damaged due to low oil pressure. Try checking the oil pressure and check to see if the oil is too thick or thin...you may just need to change your oil and filter(keep fingers crossed)
If you cant find any problem with the oil pressure and you have changed the oil and filter and you are POSITIVE that there is no oil pressure issue, then your problem is B-switch sender is bad.
If your problem appears to be B, and you need to get going immediately(you cant wait till tomorrow to buy a new) then you could bypass the switch sender temporarily.

In the basic diagram in my Haynes Manual, it looks like you could just bridge the orange and light blue wires going to the fuel pump/oil pressure switch sender and that should fix the problem.
BUT DONT DO THIS IF YOU ARENT SURE THE OIL PRESSURE IS FINE.

Think about it... You know it isnt the relay, and it cant be the fuse because if it was then the pump wouldnt prime at all. You say the pump cuts off when the car is running... the answer seems obvious to me. It is eather:
A) You have low oil pressure causing the 'FUEL PUMP/OIL PRESSURE SWITCH SENDER' to kill power to the pump or
B) Your FUEL PUMP/OIL PRESSURE SWITCH SENDER is bad and needs to be replaced.
The purpose of this switch is to protect your engine from being damaged due to low oil pressure. Try checking the oil pressure and check to see if the oil is too thick or thin...you may just need to change your oil and filter(keep fingers crossed)
If you cant find any problem with the oil pressure and you have changed the oil and filter and you are POSITIVE that there is no oil pressure issue, then your problem is B-switch sender is bad.
If your problem appears to be B, and you need to get going immediately(you cant wait till tomorrow to buy a new) then you could bypass the switch sender temporarily.


Yes... I'm aware of all this. I was wishfully hoping that maybe there was some other determining factor that I didn't know about. I've checked the oil level again, and it's fine. The sending unit/pressure switch is new (about 6 months old). Wiring is fine. High volume oil pump is brand new (4 months old), and the pickup is welded in place. So I doubt an oil delivery problem.

The only thing that I can think, might be an issue. I added some cheap 10w-30 oil at a gas station halfway down here. because i was low. maybe it's the culprit? i drove for 60-70 miles on that oil before the car stopped. I'll change the oil, and see what happens. 5w-30 is thicker than 10w-30 right?

no 10w-30 is thicker than 5w-30

5w-30 is thicker than 10w-30 right?
Wrong. Both are the same when cold, but after it warms up, 5w-30 becomes thinner.

sorry to bring up an old post... but it annoys me when people dont post solutions for future reference.

anyway the problem was the wiring to the oil pressure switch. it looked fine from above, but underneath the car you could see that the wiring slid down and touched the exhaust header and became welded to the exhaust. therefore the oil press switch got shorted out while i was on the highway. which explains why the pump stopped.

that little wire cost me a lot of money that weekend (towing, etc.).

admins, go ahead and lock this one.