93 Nissan Sentra Fuel Pump Relay Question

Other than replacing the alternator a year ago, I have never had a problem with my 93 Nissan Sentra. That is until recently. About a month ago, my car failed to start. My brother initially thought it was a bad fuel pump, and he proceeded to check both the pump and fuel filter. The initial diagnosis was that the problem lay within the relay. Being Sunday, he jumped the relay then replaced the fuse. Afterwards, the car didn't have any problem starting.

For a few months though the car had been chugging on ocassion when starting. Nothing a depressing of the pedal wouldn't solve. In retrospect, perhaps the two problems were related. This past week, my car quit again just a few steps from my driveway. After sitting overnight, it started again in the morning. I drove it a few miles, shut it off, and it failed to start again. After having it towed and letting the garage perform a diagnostic test, they said that the car wasn't getting fuel intermittingly. They, too, replaced the relay.

All ran well for two days, about 100 miles or so, and then the car failed to start again. This time, instead of having it towed, I did the same thing my brother had done: pulled the relay and ran a jumper, then replaced the fuse as soon as the car started. Since then it's been starting without fail; however, I'm reluctant to drive it anywhere for fear that it may quit again and leave me stranded. I've had it at home for a day now and have gone out to start about 15 times, expecting it to fail sooner or later. It hasn't.

What might the problem be? Should I purchase another relay, even though the garage just installed one 4 days ago? How do I know if the relay really is bad and is really the problem? If the relay went bad so quickly, is there a bigger problem that may be triggering that?

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Reply to
kid sampson
Loading thread data ...

So the car refused to start again today. I replaced the fuel filter, which it needed anyway, but that didn't help anything. The only way I can start it is to run a wire from the battery and jump it from where the fuel relay plugs in.

What should my next course of action be? I've seen others on here with similiar problems, and I've frequently went back through those threads but to no avail. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm in the midst of a job hunt and not having a vehicle is crippling me.

Thanks.

Reply to
kid sampson

Did you find out what was wrong? My 89 Nissan Pickup 2x2 is having similar problems. Solinoid/coil/start all ok. Only jump starts now.

Reply to
c_fv092990

I didn't. It will only start if jump started now through the wire. I'm about to just bite the bullet and take it to the local nissan dealer, although the repairs may cost more than half the value of the car itself. And I'm convinced what's wrong would be pretty simple once there.

Reply to
kid sampson

Does the engine turn over (without a jump)?

Upon buying a used car, I had a similar problem, but it was intermittent. Starter would not turn over, although interior and exterior lights would work. (They would dim when trying to start the car.) Sometimes rolling the car and popping the clutch would work, sometimes not. A jump would always work. The car would more than likely start normally the next time.

After jumping, the car would sometimes exhibit weird electrical problems, like the 'door open' light staying on. I thought I had an intermittent short somewhere. However, it turned out just to be a bad battery (maybe bad cell in the battery). When I replaced the battery, all was well.

I describe this to see if you have similar problems. If you have an old (and/or suspect) battery, try to find a good one and see what happens.

-- R Flowers

Reply to
R Flowers

The engine turns over without a problem. When I say jump, I mean hotwiring the relay from the terminal. Otherwise, no gas is pumping through the lines. When I run a wire from the terminal to the 3 spot on the relay, I can hear the gas being pushed through the lines. Then it will start. Once it's started, there doesn't seem to be a problem. It's getting it to get fuel.

Reply to
kid sampson

Instead of the fuel pump relay, the problem lay within the relay box itself. The AC relay which sits next to it had somehow melted into the harness connector. After removing it, I saw that the underside wires were burned through. Looking a little further down, two wires from the fuel pump relay had also been singed. The problem was that the relay to the fuel pump needed a ground, as whatever happened with the AC must have destroyed the other. Anyway, problem solved. Thanks for everyone who offered input.

Reply to
kid sampson

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.