[ddillard]

I have a 94 Mustang 3.8 V6 that I bought about a year ago. I had to replace the engine with one that I got from a 96 Mustang and since then it has ran like a champ, well until a couple months ago.

Note on the engine change: The Upper manifold (the part with the 3.8L printed on it), the sensors and wiring harness from the original motor are still in use.

At Christmas I was visiting my father and went out to run an errand and the car would not start. My father sprayed starting fluid in the intake which got the car started after a few seconds of spraying the fluid in the car was able to run on its own. After that it was starting without any issues.

I had gone back down for a visit about two months ago and the day after I returned I went out to start the car and again it would not start. I tried using starting fluid but it would die after the fluid was burned off. I let it sit for a few days then tried again. It still would not start and since I had ran the battery down in my attempts to start it, I connected a small battery charger and let it sit for a few hours to charge the battery. When I went back out and disconnected the battery charger, the car started right up on the first try. I drove it a few miles and the car shut off while I was driving. I pulled off the road and was able to start the car on the first try. I drove back home without any issues. After that it was starting and running without any issues, until a few days ago.

Wednesday morning I went out in the early morning to get something from the store. The car started on the first try without any issues. I drove about 8 miles and the car shut off. I stopped and tried to start the car and it would not start. I pushed the car off the road and grabbed the starting fluid and sprayed a bit into the intake. The car started but died as soon as the fluid was gone. I let it sit for a little bit and tried sporadically to get it started until the battery started to get low. I walked home and went back with my truck. I attached jumper cables and tried again to start it without success.

This is when I took what is probably a very stupid step. I figured since the last time the issue was resolved after I had fully charged the battery that it might be possible that there was an issue with the battery (I know, stupid line of reasoning but it was 5am) so I went to Meijer and bought a new battery and installed it. Needless to say this did not resolve the issue. Luckily I was able to return the new battery. Very thankful that I pay for roadside assistance on my cell phone I had the car towed home which is where it is sitting now.

Today I put the old battery back in and attached the battery charger so that it could charge. I did some searching online and found a few things to check. I went back out and cycled the ignition a few times and tried to listen for the fuel pump. I could not hear the pump from inside the car and did not have anyone to help listen for it so I am not sure if it is priming or not, which I will have to check when I can get a second set of ears to listen outside the car while turning the key. I took the cap off the Schroader (I think that is the correct name for it) on the fuel rail and depressed the pin inside but no fuel was released when I did so. I checked the fuel cutoff in the trunk and ensured that the button had not tripped.

I found the thread here on troubleshooting a crank no start issue, but I do not know how to locate some of the items there in order to test them.

One thing of note, considering I saw it offered as a step alot online, the car has a coil not a distributor.

I have a bad feeling that this is a bad fuel pump that has been trying to warn me for a while, but I am hoping that it is not since I have never changed one before and I am admittedly not a mechanic, even though I have been doing as much of the work on the car as possible in order to learn, but this has usually been with the help of my father who knows much more than me, but unfortunately lives 125 miles away. Does anyone have any suggestions of items that I should check before assuming the task of changing the fuel pump? I have limited tools (and funds for that matter, lol) available here, but really want to get this fixed. I just don't want to start randomly replacing parts until I have a pretty good idea of exactly what is wrong.

I will thank anyone in advance for any help that they can give me and beg forgiveness for my lack of car knowledge. I want to do the work myself in order to learn since I am proud of the fact that I have not had to put the 'Stang in the shop yet, but I may have to ask some stupid questions along the way.

[232-K7]

you cant hear the pump prime when you turn the key from OFF to ACC ON ? its pretty loud... if its working, that is.

if you turned the key to ACC ON and then depressed the schrader valve and nothing came out then youve got no pressure at the rail.

from what you've told me i suspect the fuel pump isnt coming on and was intermittently failing on you before.

have you checked the fuel pump relay?
grab an etm, go into the junction box under the hood, remove the fuel pump relay, find out which pin is your 12v source going to the pump, take a wire and hook it up to the battery. your pump should come on, if it does, then the relay is no good. if not, then your fuel pump is either bad or not getting power, so then you would take a test light to the connector that's on the fuel pump itself. if the pump is getting power and not coming on, then the pump's no good.
if you manage to get it to come on, check your rail pressure, you want to be around 39-40 psi.

i have a feeling that your problem is your pump.

[ddillard]

Originally Posted by 232-K7

you cant hear the pump prime when you turn the key from OFF to ACC ON ? its pretty loud... if its working, that is.

if you turned the key to ACC ON and then depressed the schrader valve and nothing came out then youve got no pressure at the rail.

from what you've told me i suspect the fuel pump isnt coming on and was intermittently failing on you before.

have you checked the fuel pump relay?
grab an etm, go into the junction box under the hood, remove the fuel pump relay, find out which pin is your 12v source going to the pump, take a wire and hook it up to the battery. your pump should come on, if it does, then the relay is no good. if not, then your fuel pump is either bad or not getting power, so then you would take a test light to the connector that's on the fuel pump itself. if the pump is getting power and not coming on, then the pump's no good.
if you manage to get it to come on, check your rail pressure, you want to be around 39-40 psi.

i have a feeling that your problem is your pump.

Yeah, I am pretty sure it is the pump, but was hoping otherwise. I will try to take a test light out tomorrow and check for power at the pump, if I can figure out how, lol. I won't be able to test the relay since it is my understanding that it is built into the CCRM.

[232-K7]

Originally Posted by ddillard

I won't be able to test the relay since it is my understanding that it is built into the CCRM.

oh is it?
oh well so much for that theory. lol.

[ddillard]

Well, I finally got around to picking up a new fuel pump, strainer, and filter yesterday. A friend of mine loaned me some ramps today and I was determined to come straight home and get down to business. I really miss driving my 'Stang.

Well, since I was working alone I decided not to try pushing the Mustang up on the ramps, so I took a page from my father's playbook. I jacked each side of the car up and then put the ramp under the time, let the jack down, then rinse and repeat on the other side. Took a little bit of time but step one complete

Then I put the floor jack under the gas tank and realized that with the car on the ramps it would not go high enough to support the tank..hmmmm...... Oh but wait I have several pieces of 1" plywood on the deck that are the perfect size for supporting the tank and will help prevent the jack from damaging the tank anyway. So I added a couple of those and brought the jack up just enough to put a very small amount of pressure to keep the tank from coming down on my head when I take the metal tank holders loose, at least I hope so, lol. So Step Two done

Ok, now to actually get down under the car and get this done. I grab my socket and rachet and slip under the car. I am now confident that the gas tank has never been off this car, at least not for a VERY long time. I take a few minutes getting into a position that will allow me to apply the brute force muscle power that will be required to remove these two bolts. At this point I am really started to get excited about the challenge that this apparently simple project has presented, and am really looking foward to knocking this out and being able to have the bragging points that I changed the fuel pump by myself even though I have never in my life done this before.

We then I feel something on my leg that brings instant disappointment and forces me to have to abandon the completion of the project at least until tomorrow.

I HATE RAIN!!!!!!

[2Manystangs]

You'll want to replace the filler neck gasket/grommet while you are doing the fuel pump, it's always worn out...get one from the Ford dealership...

[ddillard]

Originally Posted by 2Manystangs

You'll want to replace the filler neck gasket/grommet while you are doing the fuel pump, it's always worn out...get one from the Ford dealership...

Crap, I wish I had known this before. I hate my local Ford dealership, EVERY TIME I have gone in for a part now matter how common it is, they tell me that they will have to order it in and it will take approximately two weeks, and man are they expensive.

I guess that if this is necessary I will have to put off repairing the car for a few weeks till I can scrape the money together (unemployed victim of the economy) and wait for them to order it in.

[ddillard]

Originally Posted by 2Manystangs

You'll want to replace the filler neck gasket/grommet while you are doing the fuel pump, it's always worn out...get one from the Ford dealership...

Sorry if I sounded snippy in my last post. I appreciate you input and advice, things are just pretty frustrating right now and it seems that there is always something else that I need to find money for, lol.

I took your advice and called the dealership this morning and I got lucky and they had one filler neck gasket in stock (the rep I spoke with admitted that they must have received it by mistake at some point because it is a part that they normally have to order, have I mentioned how much I hate this local dealership,lol.) Well, back to the point, I was able to get the gasket for $30 so I went down and picked it up before starting any work on the car.

Now I want to tell everyone a story, largely because I am proud of this, since I have never changed a fuel pump before, I know that I may not have done things by the book, but hey it works now, but feel free to offer advice for what I should have done differently so that I will know next time.

I already had the car up on the ramps from the Rain Out yesterday so that was one step done.

I still had the floor jack (with plywood between the jack and the tank) in place so that was two steps done.

My first step was to disconnect the negative battery terminal, you know for that thing called safety. Just something about the thought of accidentally blowing myself up while working on the car does not appeal to me, lol.

Then I opened up the gas cap and removed the three bolts holding the fill neck in place, just because it seemed like an easy place to start and so I would not forget to do it later.

Then I grabbed my 1/2" socket, ratchet and extensions and climbed under the car to remove the metal straps holding the tank in place. I started on the drivers side. Well this is where the big adventure began. I can guarentee that the tank has never been removed from the car since it was manufactured in 1994. After struggling with it for about twenty minutes and making very little progress in removing the bolt. I went inside and dug through the closet till I found an old half inch pipe that I had removed from one of the closets when I moved in, grabbed my saber saw and cut off a piece about a foot long.

With the pipe over the handle of the ratchet I was able to get much better leverage and after about another twenty minutes and a generous amount of WD-40 the first bolt was free.

Then thinking, ok the first one is always the hardest I optimistically moved to the passenger's side. The 1/2" socket kept slipping off, this is when I realized that the bolts were metric and I really needed a 13mm socket, which I do not have. The only metric tools I have are a set of stubby ratcheting wrenches.

While I was debating on how to resolve this issue without spending any more money since the filler neck gasket had taken the last of my checking account until Tuesday. I removed the bold attaching the filler neck bracket to the tank. And I removed the four bolt holding that rubber thing that is around the filler neck on the inside of the fender.

Well this is when a neighbor stopped by and offered to help me and my roommate with this bolt. He did not have any metric sockets either so under the car he went with my stubby 13mm wrench and a hammer. About fifteen minutes later he emerged with the bolt in hand (just as another neighber showed up with a nice shiny 13mm deep well socket in hand)

Well thinking the worst was over, my roommate and I slowly lowered the tank part way to removed the connections from the outside of the tank. This is when I realized that I had to bring the tank to the ground in order to get to the connections. There was enough slack in the hoses and connections so that was not a problem. Then I disconnected the electrical plug. (This is when I took the time to grab the multi-meter and had my roommate reconnect the battery and turn the key enough to send power to the fuel pump, I confirmed that I was receiving 12v to the wires, so thus confirmed that the problem was indeed the fuel pump, then of course disconnected the battery again). Oh yeah, I removed the filler neck from the tank while I was lowering the tank.

This is when I realized that a special tool was going to be required to remove the fuel lines, which of course I don't have. So I decided to attempt proceeding without removing the gas lines, as I figured if I proceeded with caution I would be okay (which turned out to be correct)

After a bit of an ordeal I was able to remove the retaining ring. Removing the fuel pump housing was a bit of a pain in the rear but I got it down. Actually replacing the fuel pump, and strainer took about five minutes.

Then I replaced the filler neck gasket (the old one did not show any signs of wear or deterioration, but I figured better safe than sorry.) While I was doing this I had my roommate climb under the car and change the fuel filter while the tank was not in the way.

Then we ran into the next pain in the rear, putting the fuel pump and hanger back into the tank. Getting it back in the tank was easy, getting it back in the tank, and in that "cup" where it is supposed to go, now that was a pain. Took about twenty minutes or so, and finally involved my running a clean piece of dowel rod in through the filler neck hole and carefully guiding/and gently nudging it into the right place while my roommate was placing it in the area as best as he could from the top of the tank. Finally the pump and hanger were back in place.

Then we put the retainer ring back in place, reconnected the power connections, and used the jacks to raise the tank enough to place the filler neck back in its place. This is where I did something that I really hope will not cause a problem. In order to get the filler neck through the gasket, I sprayed and extremely light coating of WD-40 on the filler neck, which let it slide into the seal like butter.

Then we raised the tank the rest of the way and bolted the straps back into place, of course the bolts had been cleaned and well lubricated this time, lol.

Bolted the filler neck bracket in place, then that rubber thing, and replace the three bolts at the gas tank, then reconnected the battery.

Now for the moment of truth, I got in the car and turned the key, and had the biggest rush of pride, accomplishment and relief when after a couple of cracks to repressurize the system the engine took right off and began purring like a kitten. I drove the car off the ramps and shut it down while I returned roommate returned the borrowed tools to the neighbors and we cleaned up everything from the yard and parking area.

One all of the cleanup was finished got back in the car and took a nice leasurely 15 mile drive and let me tell you, it felt so good to be back behind the wheel of my 'Stang, when I am there any other problems seem to melt away for a while.

[232-K7]

lol awesome success story.
glad to hear all went well