265 wouldn't start

Bosch relays seem to not have the best quality soldering in the world, I usually resolder all the critical ones whether the car is working or not, never had one fail again.

This one had been done before and I had another go, but I think there was more wrong than that - there was a bit of beige goo around one of the components (to mask my lack of IC knowledge). I drilled a couple of small holes in the new casing, following one tip I saw.

The goo is rosin flux from the solder, it won't hurt anything. Helps to remove the old solder from the heavy joints and use all new stuff. Also a dying fuel pump can oveheat the relay and stress the solder joints.

Nah this is on the component side of the board, same colour as one of those plastic blobs with stripes, like it had burst. It's not flux and looks like no soldering had been done on any of the "small" joints, only the higher current/load parts. Do you do the all the joints or just those likely to have more stress?

White blobs? You mean the resistors? They don't have any goo in them. Electrolytic capacitors (cylindrical things with two leads and a voltage and uF rating on them) are filled with liquid electrolyte that can leak if they fail. Also sometimes parts are glued down with hot melt glue or caulking like stuff.

I resolder anything that looks dull or cracked, as well as all the heavy current carrying joints.

Well I tried... then bought a new one and it works. Now I just have to work out why the tank pump still isn't working.

The in-tank pumps fail more often than the main pump, pull it out, rinse it well with soapy water, then hook it up to a 6v battery and see if it runs.

(thanks for taking the time to reply) isn't it 12v? I had tried to get it out but one fuel line is shrunk on & worried how hard it might be to put back if I cut it. But the pair of wires to it both have continuity to earth (and with each other of course) - that can't be right? I'll take the fuse out & see if it still happens, not stupid just a bit slow on the uptake...

Motors typically measure very little resistance, with the stall current being very high but running current being low. The motor is 12V but should run just fine on 6V for a test.

Also, there is a separate part of the fuel pump relay for the in-tank pump. You should have voltage to the in-tank pump whenever the ignition is on. Since the relay is a notorious trouble spot, be sure it is okay before going on the great tank expedition.

Another common problem is tearing of the bellows-like line between the outlet of the in-tank fuel pump and the fuel pipe. The hose is not available separately (the last price I got for the assembly was over $300 US) and I did what most people do - replace it with a piece of fuel hose. That doesn't allow the pickup to rest on the bottom of the tank, but at least it makes the fuel feed right.

Mike

Oops - I forgot you replaced the relay!

Mike

Hey I'm not going to be picky when someone is trying to help. But still not ready to suspect the tank pump when the power to it doesn't seem to work the way I think it should.

Yes it's 12v, but 6v lantern batteries are common and it should run on one, you can also use a battery pack from a cordless drill, camcorder, etc. The voltage isn't really critical, you just want to verify the pump is ok. You can also measure voltage right at the tank, if you have close to 12v there but the pump isn't running then 99% chance it's bad. You don't wanna remove the fuel line there, it's permanently attached. Get down under the car and you'll find a union in the line which you can disconnect with a wrench.

What do you mean? Does it get voltage when the engine is cranking or not?

It gets voltage ok, but there is continuity between each wire and earth with the key off which seems like a short to me. I just disconnected the plug near the pump & ran 2 wires from the battery and guess what... because the tank pump made such a noise before all the relay trouble I assumed it wasn't working because it runs so much quieter now, but it runs after all. Thanks guys you haven't really wasted your time, I was even too stupid to try that until prompted. I've always had a blind spot for electricery (specially since I got my hand caught behind the stove dashboard), really a mechanical man but I get the feeling the wiring is a weak spot with these cars.

If it has something around 12v then the electrical side is fine, continuity is normal, as someone else said, the DC impedance of motors is generally very low, only a few ohms.

The hard plastic hose is only about 18" long until it connects to the hard line running to the main fuel pump. Generally the fitting will not separate at this time. The answer is to slit the plastic pipe and remove it from both ends. Replace it with 5/16" (8mm) fuel hose and two clamps.

Bob

It must slip over about 1" of metal at each end, I was worried I might have damaged the line trying to lever off the rubber casing (so robust it looked like it was the hose and the line inside was the spigot), but can't smell fuel or see a leak and it runs ok so I will hope. That's a good tip, fairly obvious like many tips but might not have thought of it. Hard to reach the other end, I've hurt my arm just reaching up to the hose on the pump around the tank from under (for a better angle to pull it).

There's a plate in the trunk, secured by four phillips head screws, that allows access to the top of the tank.

Bob

Yes I found that and got the pump as far as half way out but couldn't get that one pipe off. Oh well it seems OK now so maybe I'll never have that challenge again. The car is 25 years old so you have to wonder how much life there is - it certainly seems in much better condition than the crappy old ford Falcon 7 years younger which passed its use by date a few weeks ago.