Can my fuel pump become inoperative only when cold?

My '94 Max, which recently had to be parked outside in below freezing wether refused to start. The engine turned over fine, but it wouldn't catch. I pushed the car into the underground parkade at work for a couple of hours to warm up and bingo, started perfectly. I had experienced a stuttering display a week earlier, again after being outside, where the car would start, cough and sputter then die when put in gear, or or only travel a short distance. When started it wouldn't respond to me pressing the gas pedal. Eventually it started and I let it warm up for awhile before driving it.

I suspect the fuel pump, anyone ever have a problem similar where cold stopped the fuel pump from working? Other than these two events it's worked fine when garaged at home, and parkaded at work. I doubt the fuel filters could do this, because the car worked most of the time. Same for fuel. First time the tank was half full, last time it was full.

Thoughts and costs?

Norm

Father Guido ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I plan on living forever... so far, so good

Reply to
Father Guido
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You need to check and make sure power is going to the pump. Sounds like a bad solder joint somewhere. It'll take time more than anything else to find it.

Reply to
Brian

Don't be so sure it's not the fuel filter. My 94 GXE kept blowing the fuel pump fuse last summer. When I replaced the fuel filter, it has not blown a fuse since. I believe it became clogged and overloaded the pump. After I removed the old filter, the gas coming out of it looked "normal" but the problem obviously was solved after I put in a new filter.

Chris

90 & 94 GXE's
Reply to
Chris H

Those filters that protect the injectors are a lot finer media wise then the old gas filters of the Carb.days and they can sure get plugged and put a lot of strain on the little fuel pumps that are inside the fuel tanks. And without having a gauge mounted on inlet side and outlet side of the filter you never know when the pressure drop is getting high because of the filter getting plugged. when you remove one and you cannot blow air through it..it's plugged. dk

Reply to
Dave Kind

Watch out also for water in the fuel system. Very common in the winter. You might want to try some fuel system drier. Also clean out your throttle body if you haven't done that in a while... my cold starting problems went away after I did that.

CW

Reply to
CW

Thanks to everyone who replied, I'll try and get some parts on the weekend and play with it some.

Thanks again!!!

Norm

Father Guido ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I plan on living forever... so far, so good

Reply to
Father Guido

Father Guido,

Before you start messing with the fuel pump you may want to get to the root of the fact that the fuel pump is not coming on.

the J30 series (89-94) series Maxima were famous for problems stemming from the fact that the ENG CONT relay was not turning on , in layman's terms ... the computer was not turning itself on and in turn it was not giving a ground to the fuel pump relay turning it on in the process.

before you do anything , go to the dealer an purchase what is called a

1M relay , it is blue in color.

it sits in the socket in the box near the battery called ENG CONT or ECCS Rely

replace that relay before you do anything else, let us/me know of he outcome before you do anything more

Reply to
NissTech

Hi,

I didn't get a chance to buy a relay yet, but here's what happened today. The car hasn't been used since I got it home the last probvlem I had. I was parked outside for two hours, when I went to start it, it wouldn't start as usual. The engine would catch and run for a second or two, then die. I remembered what you had said, plus it seemed to start when warm, so I opened the hood and took out the ENG CONT relay and tried to warm it up, but that didn't work, so I will definitely try and buy one tomorrow -- I abandoned the car in a parking lot overnight.

One thing though, the relay is GREEN, not BLUE. In the same place with the CONT END relay is a brown relay and a bunch of fuses, including an ENG CONT fuse, but it's OK. Under tha dash their are 4 more BLUE relays, and another BROWN one, but I can't get them out to try and swap, but they're different anyway.

So do I want a GREEN relay, or a BLUE one? I'm a bit confused. One thing for sure, with the GREEN ENG CONT relay removed the car turns over but won't catch even for a second.

Please advise.

Thanks,

Norm

Reply to
Father Guido

Most of these cars use the fuel pump relay only when cranking and very shortly after starting switch over to using the computer itself to power the pump. It's a faily comon problem for the curcuit board inside the computer to burn up the trace that powers up the pump. It's highly unlikely there is anything wrong with the pump. I've been working on nissans for 20 years and in all that time I've seen one bad fuel pump and it was on a 280z with 360,000 miles

Reply to
Steve

You are correct , the relay is green, It sucks getting old :-)

just for fun, look around in the relay boxes for another green relay, mark the one that you removed from the ENG CONT location with an X on it and swap it with another green relay, and attempt to duplicate the starting problem

Reply to
NissTech

_____________________________________________ Hi NissTech,

Well I replaced the ENG CONT relay, it was green in colour though, but it was an 1M relay and located where you described and named ENGINE CONT. It didn't make any difference. Yesterday it was outside for a couple of hours. When you tried to start it, it would start, run for a second and die, or run for a second and cough and die. All the time it was running stepping on the pedal had zero affect, or made it cought slightly. Today the car wouldn't even start for a brief second. It had been outside in the cold overnight and most of today. I had it towed back and put it in the garage, so it might start in the morning.

Thanks, now what?

Norm

_____________________________________________

Reply to
Father Guido

Are you sure the pump isn't running and/or fuel pressure is the problem? An AF meter can do this same thing.

Reply to
Steve

problem? An

_______________________________________________ No I'm not sure about the pump running, or fuel pressure. I think I hear a whirring sound from the back (fuel pump?) after I turn the ignition off. If the car starts in the morning after being in my non-heated, but several degrees above freezing garage what would you suspect?

PS What's an AF meter?

Reply to
Father Guido

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ You should read my next post(s), but there aren't any other green relays in the car, as far as I know. In the box with the ENG CONT is a brown relay and several large fuses. In the dash beside the fuses are 4 blue relays and one more brown relay. The brand new green relay (cost me $35 Canadian) didn't make any difference. But the car had been outside more than 24 hours in very cold weather. Once popped in the car still cranked fine but refused to even catch for a second, although you could hear it trying to catch occassionally. I had it towed back to my house and put it in my garage to warm up overnight. The garage isn't heated, but it's attached to the house so it's always much warmer than outside. Time will tell if it starts in the AM. If it does what would you suggest trying next, something that would be cold sensitive. The fuel pump you'd think would be immune being submersed all the time. Oh well...

Thanks,

Norm ________________________________________________________

stemming

Reply to
Father Guido

The last thing I'd suspect is the fuel pump! :-) Some temp sensitive things I've seen include the ign coil (not very comon) and AF meter air temp sensors which are inside the meter. When it won't start you have to first determine if it's spark or fuel.

Air flow meter. Some people call them MAS (mass air sensor).

Reply to
Steve

Like I said people call them all sorts of things. Maybe the "net" techs call them MAF?

Reply to
Steve

Yes, same thing. MAF = Mass Air Flow sensor

Reply to
Dan

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Tried the car just now, it started and idled, but if I pressed the gas pedal it wanted to sputter, but recovered when I stopped. I left it to warm up for a minute and then everything worked fine. I can rev the engine OK. When the car first started, which was instantly, I could hear a slight high pitched squeal, hard to tell from where, but I think the rear of the car, which would be the fuel pump I guess, until the engine warmed up after a minute, when it went away.

Thanks for everyones help -- Anymore ideas out there? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Reply to
Father Guido

Coolant temp sensor (for computer not gauge)

Reply to
Brian

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