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So here is a very abbreviated version of the story of my fiancee's festy. We love her dearly, and she is our only car (we mostly ride bicycles) and over the past month she has gone from utterly reliable to won't stay on for more than 5 minutes at a time.
It all began about 5 months ago. The car wasn't starting, so we had our favorite mechanic take a look at it. Well, it looks like the fuel pump is not working, so we order one on eBay and have him put it in. In the process of removing the "bad" one, we discover that the "bad" one suddenly works! Should have been a red flag, but I'm kinda ignorant about this stuff, so I told him to go ahead and put the new one in anyway, just to make sure it's not that.
Month goes by, and it starts doing the same thing. Won't crank, randomly. Take it to another shop, and they say it's the fuel pump. I scratch my head, and protest. The mechanic accuses the cheap fuel pump, and says that a more expensive fuel pump is the way to go, and we won't have any problems. $300 later, we are on our way. Until the very next day. No start. Tow it back to the same shop. They can't find anything wrong. Run it for an hour or so, no issues.
So, fast forward to about a month ago. It starts stalling out when stopped at stop signs, or when parking. "Huh, that's weird" we say to ourselves. Our fuel gauge is broken, so we assume that we're just running out of gas, and when we fill up, seems to work ok. Now, the tank was never actually empty, mind you, but we chalked it up to the tank being low, and the car being persnickety about that.
Short fast forward to two weeks ago. Car starts losing power in the middle of driving. While accelerating. Coming to stops. Trying to start. The intervals between stalls shortens to the point where it won't stay on for longer than a minute. We call the first mechanic and he says it's probably electrical and to take it to a shop that does electrical. In the meantime, I go get some Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant and Injector Cleaner. Pour a few servings in the tank, and VOILA! Cranks up! Runs for an hour and half! Drives better than ever! Fiancee drives to work the next day, so proud of me, and it dies pulling into her work parking lot... But it still runs better than before. Will stay on for 20-30 minutes at a time.
This new shop says it's the fuel pump (ha!), and we say "NO!" They then say it's the fuel pump relay, and we concede that we haven't tried that and that seems logical. $176 later, new relay. Drive it to work. Work. Leaving work, no start. Middle fusible link blown. Replaced that, and it starts. And then immediately shuts off. Call the shop, and they say it's probably because there is an oil leak, and we need to replace the rear main seal, and they keep saying volts when they mean amps, blah blah blah, so I cut my losses and put the festy out of there as fast as I can.
So here is where I'm at now. Thanks for hanging with me through that long story. The car is back to only staying on for less than 5 minutes since getting it back from the shop. Jumped the fuel pump test connection. Pump works. Crank the car while the test connection is hooked up, and it runs and dies like usual, even though the fuel pump is pumping. Check for any OBD-I codes, nothing. Look at the relay; looks legit. Check out the connector, looks good.
Any ideas as to what I should be hunting for? I'm going to break out the DMM and start poking around the fuel pump wires and try to read some voltages, and check for weird voltage drops under load. Any other suggestions? Anything I can take a picture of to provide more details? I don't have a way of testing fuel pressure or vacuum, btw, but would be willing to have mechanic 1 come back out and do that, if need be.
There is another weird thing that I'm not sure if it's related to this problem or not. For a while, when we would first start driving the car after starting it, we would hear a high pitched squeal coming from the passenger-side part of the engine. Had to be pushing the accelerator to get it to squeal, and it would usually only last for 5 seconds or so. Doesn't really do that now, but I wasn't sure if the two things could be related or not.
It all began about 5 months ago. The car wasn't starting, so we had our favorite mechanic take a look at it. Well, it looks like the fuel pump is not working, so we order one on eBay and have him put it in. In the process of removing the "bad" one, we discover that the "bad" one suddenly works! Should have been a red flag, but I'm kinda ignorant about this stuff, so I told him to go ahead and put the new one in anyway, just to make sure it's not that.
Month goes by, and it starts doing the same thing. Won't crank, randomly. Take it to another shop, and they say it's the fuel pump. I scratch my head, and protest. The mechanic accuses the cheap fuel pump, and says that a more expensive fuel pump is the way to go, and we won't have any problems. $300 later, we are on our way. Until the very next day. No start. Tow it back to the same shop. They can't find anything wrong. Run it for an hour or so, no issues.
So, fast forward to about a month ago. It starts stalling out when stopped at stop signs, or when parking. "Huh, that's weird" we say to ourselves. Our fuel gauge is broken, so we assume that we're just running out of gas, and when we fill up, seems to work ok. Now, the tank was never actually empty, mind you, but we chalked it up to the tank being low, and the car being persnickety about that.
Short fast forward to two weeks ago. Car starts losing power in the middle of driving. While accelerating. Coming to stops. Trying to start. The intervals between stalls shortens to the point where it won't stay on for longer than a minute. We call the first mechanic and he says it's probably electrical and to take it to a shop that does electrical. In the meantime, I go get some Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant and Injector Cleaner. Pour a few servings in the tank, and VOILA! Cranks up! Runs for an hour and half! Drives better than ever! Fiancee drives to work the next day, so proud of me, and it dies pulling into her work parking lot... But it still runs better than before. Will stay on for 20-30 minutes at a time.
This new shop says it's the fuel pump (ha!), and we say "NO!" They then say it's the fuel pump relay, and we concede that we haven't tried that and that seems logical. $176 later, new relay. Drive it to work. Work. Leaving work, no start. Middle fusible link blown. Replaced that, and it starts. And then immediately shuts off. Call the shop, and they say it's probably because there is an oil leak, and we need to replace the rear main seal, and they keep saying volts when they mean amps, blah blah blah, so I cut my losses and put the festy out of there as fast as I can.
So here is where I'm at now. Thanks for hanging with me through that long story. The car is back to only staying on for less than 5 minutes since getting it back from the shop. Jumped the fuel pump test connection. Pump works. Crank the car while the test connection is hooked up, and it runs and dies like usual, even though the fuel pump is pumping. Check for any OBD-I codes, nothing. Look at the relay; looks legit. Check out the connector, looks good.
Any ideas as to what I should be hunting for? I'm going to break out the DMM and start poking around the fuel pump wires and try to read some voltages, and check for weird voltage drops under load. Any other suggestions? Anything I can take a picture of to provide more details? I don't have a way of testing fuel pressure or vacuum, btw, but would be willing to have mechanic 1 come back out and do that, if need be.
There is another weird thing that I'm not sure if it's related to this problem or not. For a while, when we would first start driving the car after starting it, we would hear a high pitched squeal coming from the passenger-side part of the engine. Had to be pushing the accelerator to get it to squeal, and it would usually only last for 5 seconds or so. Doesn't really do that now, but I wasn't sure if the two things could be related or not.
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