Stalling after 1 week without use

[eternus]

Just wanted to post this for anyone that might run into similar problems...

My Grand AM 2000 GT1 with (~205,000km), was sitting for just over a week (vacation). When I turned it on for 5 minutes to heat up, no problems. Placed it into drive and drove about 10 feet before stalling. All needles in the instrument cluster went down, saw the battery and service engine lights come on. Gas went from 1/4 to 0.

I pushed it to the side of the road and tried starting it over and over. No luck. Once in a while it almost seemed like it was going to start but then it would immediately chugged. I added 2.5 gallons of high octane fresh gas just in case. Still no luck.

My guess was the fuel pump was gone. I tried boosting the battery to make sure even though all lights seemed to be strong and did not dim when I crank it (only 2 year old battery in it). No luck. Battery was ok. I could it it cranking and clicking but then it just would not start (as if gas was not getting ignited).

Got it towed to mechanic, he said the fuel pump was dead. There goes another $500. :(

Anyone know how hard it is to replace the fuel pump on these cars? I read somewhere we need to drop the tank.

[sunrunner_pei]

The fuel pump is inside the fuel tank, so yes, the tank has to come down. Other than that I have no experience with it, so I can't comment further.

[rixGAphx]

Follow the directions in your Haynes, about 4 hours the first time you do it, with an assistaant to lower/raise the tank, and assuming the tank is less than half-full.
There's no way to drain or siphon, so just deal with the quantity that's there.

But first, make sure it's bad.
It worked for that first five minutes and 10 feet, odd that it would then fail.
Have you checked the fuse, the relay, and the fuel pressure itself?

If the tank were near-empty for the week of setting, then a bit of water might have cndensed out of the air and sank to the bottom of the tank as pure water.
Make sure that the FP isn't just pushing a slug of water thru the injectors at the present time.

And of course, make sure that the 'Security' light isn't 'on', indicating that Passlock has engaged.

Hope this helps,
-Rick

[eternus]

One of the things I checked before having it towed was the fuse and it was ok. My mechanic said the relay was fine also and after looking at the fuel pressure, he said the fuel pump was not doing anything. He replaced it yesterday and the car started up without any problems.

[rixGAphx]

One of the things I checked before having it towed was the fuse and it was ok. My mechanic said the relay was fine also and after looking at the fuel pressure, he said the fuel pump was not doing anything. He replaced it yesterday and the car started up without any problems.Sounds like he did a thorough diagnosis.

Glad you're rolling again, thanks for reporting back.
-Rick