96 neon no start.

[85boostbox]

Hey guys I have a 96 neon sohc auto. Will not start. I diagnosed it months ago as a bad fuel pump. Replaced it and now it does the same thing. I got it to start with a new pump. It ran for about a week then would die going about a mile or so down the road. Like running out of gas. It did the same thing before. I am yet again not getting pressure. Any ideas why it keeps doing this or something I should look for. Is something in this thing killing pumps or did I just get a dud pump. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


Paul

[85boostbox]

Anyone?

[cordes]

I had to run a dedicated wire to the pump in my 97. It wasn't shorting out, but there was not power to the connector. Have you verified that there is power at the connector when attempting to start? How about jumping the FP relay and giving it a look then?

[black86glhs]

Sure you don't have a weak pump relay? They will build up particles on the connections inside and the resistance can go up enough to rob the pump of the proper voltage.

[85boostbox]

Pump primes. I have not hooked up a guage. No point lol. It piddles out of the valve. I confirmed with the quick disconnect at the rail. Same thing. Have not checked voltage at the pump. I know it's getting power just not sure of how much. As stated it primes. Oh and the filter was changed when I did the pump.

[85boostbox]

One other thing. This was my dad's car. I diagnosed it as a pump. He replaced it not me. Now my dad is a good wrencher but not a mechanic by any means. Makes me wonder if he did something wrong while installing it or??? I'm just at a loss.

[85boostbox]

And I forgot to mention. I switched relays around from ASD to fuel pump with no change. I'm gonna run a jumper wire tomorrow for the pump and check connections. I know the harness has most likely the usual neon issues. But everything checks our as far as why it would not start.

[black86glhs]

Could the sock have come off or something is sucked up to the bottom of the pump??

[85boostbox]

That is what I am thinking maybe. Sock possibly came off. Not really sure. Will dig in deeper tomorrow.

[Tbird232ci]

What kind of pump is it?

My girls 99 Cougar had the fuel pump die. I went to AutoZone, got a Airtex pump as it was all they had. Put it in at like 2am (I work nights so it's normal for me), and by about 10pm, the fuel pump died. So the next day, we went to the car, pulled the pump, and got it warrantied. Get to the car, pull the pump out of the box, and the nipple for the fuel line broke off in the box. So we then went back to the AutoZone, got money back, went to a few other places which didn't have the pump, and then went down to another AutoZone to get another Airtex pump. Installed that, and had no prime. She was furious at this point, thinking it had an electrical issue. Checked fueses and replaced the relay. Nothing. I would have dug further in diagnosing it, but I left my power probe in my car.

She had it towed to a shop, he spent about an hour diagnosing it, called and told us the pump was bad. Turns out it was DOA.

[85boostbox]

I am not sure. Got it from Rockauto so would have to look at the receipt. I am suspecting something else. Going to hookup my DVOM and some jumper cables. I am leaning towards a cam sensor. Reason being is I can hear it prime but cannot hear it for obvious reasons when cranking. So going to do a little bit more digging.

[85boostbox]

ok just though of something. Still would explain the no pressure on the initial prime...

[85boostbox]

Update time... It's fixed!!!!!!

Yanked the harness out of it and found many wires burnt through and exposed. One of the grounds going to the O2 sensor was broken completely. And that is the ground for every important sensor... So yay lol


Paul

[thedon809]

Yeah whenever you have running issues with a first gen neon the first thing to be checked is the wiring harness in the engine bay.