Fuel Pump troubleshooting

[kevyrev]

I am the new owner of a 92 ford festiva. It's belonged to my mother in law who is the original owner and always had it serviced and took great care of it. It has sat for about two and a half years as she bought a new car and I took it off her hands. To get to the point, she told me she thinks it needs a new fuel pump. When it was dropped off at my place I realized it was out of gas and hoping it would really be that simply. I have had it to fire up on starting fluid and just poured in one and a half gallons of gas, but no luck. My question is how can I test my fuel pump to make certain it's faulty, and is there a fuse or fuel pump relay I need to check as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[dalebwilson]

A good place to start is simply disconnect the negative battery cable, reconnect and listen. You should be able to hear the fuel pump power on.

[dalebwilson]

According to Haynes, the fuel pump receives its power from the EGI 15 amp fusible link located near the battery. Should be 3 fusible links there. Most folks replace these fusible links with cartridge type fuses.

[bravekozak]

Also, check the inertia switch to make sure the button in pushed down. It is located below the left rear speaker behind the plastic. The fuel pump relay can be probed with a 12V test light for power. It is located right below where the antenna lead enters the left wall under the dash. Good luck.

[nitrofarm]

Fuel pump test is done with the fuel pump test terminal located directly next to the brake booster. It is the loose plastic female terminal with the Green/Red & Black wire on it. Jump these two spade's with a paper clip or wire etc and listen for the pump to run.welcome to the forum whats your location please just add it to your sig,we all love to know where are family members are

[kevyrev]

Thanks so much for all of the replies. At least now I have some things I can go on to help determine the fate of my fuel pump. Has anyone replaced it on this car and if so is it a typical job or will I be "in for it"? Fuel pumps don't seem to be too expensive but I appreciate the help and just need to determine if it's bad. I did mention that the tank was bone dry. Wonder if it takes a bit to re prime the pump.

[Team Lightning]

The fuel pump can be changed from under the rear seat. Raise the seat, pull the carpet back and remove the plate. Unplug the wires and the bottom plate has the pump attached to it.
Rockauto.com is the cheapest place I've found for fuel pumps (and other stuff too).

[bravekozak]

The Vane Air Flow has to be working in order to send current to the fuel pump relay.
You will determine if that's happening when you probe the fuel pump relay to find out if power is going to the fuel pump.

If you can hear the fuel pump, then you are good. You don't have to probe the relay.

[kevyrev]

I have some burned insulation on the "MAIN" fusible link. Seems as though the wire is intact. Also the EGI which is a 15amp fusible link I'm told is extremely dirty at the spade contacts, I'll post a pic. I tried to clean them a little and hooked and unhooked a few times, then when I plugged the battery up, I did hear a motor sound which I'm hoping was the fuel pump. It did crank for a second, but the battery is drained from trying to crank it yesterday. It's been charging for and hour and I'll see what progress if any I have now.

[kevyrev]

[bravekozak]

The only way to effectively clean the main fuse is to pop out the terminals, wire wheel them and then pop them back in. Notice the lower terminal only has tangs on the two outer spades. That way they will be ready for another twenty years of service.

[nitrofarm]

Kevy look at the "Fuseable Link" repair link in my sig- Once you have done that you can install actual plastic fuses into the slots if you like.

[dalebwilson]

Kevy, clean those connections good and I bet you are pumping fuel in no time!

[kevyrev]

Thanks so much guys for the help, I'll continue to look and verify that the inertia switch is okay. In the meantime I'll get those terminals cleaned up and see what we have and go from there.

[TominMO]

BTW kev, you oughta put your location in so we know where you are. Might be a member nearby who can come help/give moral support/drink your beer.