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Intermittent stall & no start- Fuel pump relay makes fast ticking sound?


mmync
03-08-2008, 05:59 PM
This nightmare never ends. 1996 Regal 3.8 the car has been stalling at idle or when slowing down, and I also have a very intermittent no start. I am not a car expert, but my personal opinion says its the crankshaft position sensor. Since I don't have a gargage and it's winter here in michigan, I took it to a local shop for repair and told them I believed it was the ckps and for them to replace it. They called me back and told me the problem was the fuel pump. It didn't make alot of sense to me but I bent over and paid the $370.00
The car is still idleing very bad,wants to stall, and yesterday I went to start it and it wouldn't start. Know here is what I can tell you. When the car wouldn't start, I checked the fuel pressure and if I remember right it was at like 45. I also pulled a plug wire and put it up to some metal and then cranked the engine and it did have spark. Wether it was good strong spark, I have no idea. But the one big think that I have noticed is that when it wont start, the fuel pump relay will tick really fast and loud with the key in the run position. I have tried replacing the relay a 100 times and even made some kind of test relay so no matter what, if the relay was plugged in, then the fuel pump was running for sure, but that didnt work either and I did hear the pump working. Here are the codes I got from autozone before they replaced the fuel pump, but i have not had the codes read since then.

p0171=System too Lean (Bank 1)

P0466=voltage signal from evap purge flow sensor is out of range for the current engine operating conditions

p0336=voltage from crankshaft sensor "A" is out of range

p0441=purge flow in the evap system is incorrect

p0300= multiple random misfires

richtazz
03-13-2008, 07:05 AM
Welcome to AF.

The ticking fuel pump relay could be caused by corrosion on the terminals on the underside of the relay center, fairly common issue on these cars in states like Michigan (I'm from the Flint area) where they use a ton salt on the roads in winter.

The P0411 and P0446 could both be from a bad evap control solenoid.

How many miles since the last tune-up, and what brand parts were installed if it was done recently?

Did the shop check the harmonic balancer and/or CKPS when you took it in? The CKPS in your car has both sensor A and B (as referenced in generic OBD-II scanners) contained in it. The balancer has two sets of slotted metal rings that feed the CKPS it's signal, so either the balancer or CKPS could trip that code.

The system lean and random misfires is most likely caused from the other issues.

mmync
03-13-2008, 08:03 AM
Thanks for your help Rich. I couldn't really tell you when the car had a tune up last. I have only had it for a couple of years. As bad as it may sound, I never even asked the shop if they tested the ckps or balancer. I foolishly assumed that since I told them that I wanted the ckps replaced and then they called me and told me the problem was the fuel pump, that the ckps was fine. I went to auto zone the other day and had them rescan the codes and the ckps error codes where gone. I didnt expect that because it has been throwing the ckps code for over a year and a half. While I was there, I bought new plugs and wires. I figured that I would change the front 3 plugs and wires until I can find enough time to replace the back 3. The plugs looked really nasty. They had a bunch of white or light colored build up on them. The car smokes alot and uses coolant, and as an uneducated guess, I would assume that means that there is coolant leaking in the engine, and I wonder if that is what all the build up is on the plugs. I did notice a major improvement just by replacing the front plugs and wires, but it already feels like it is starting to get sluggish again. Almost like the new plugs are getting caked up or something. But then car has not stalled since I got it home from the shop. It just has the feel like the engine is flooded with fuel or that the exhaust cant get out fast enough or something.

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