A funny thing happened on the way home the other day ...

1974 2.0 FI

Looking for a little help in diagnosing a problem that has appeared with my car. On a recent Wednesday, I took the car on a 300 mile round trip drive, including Los Angeles traffic (the car "rested" for about 1.25 hours in between drives). The car drove great for the majority of the time, always started. Only issue on this trip was a low idle after several hours of driving (when I was almost home). (This was the single longest & most driving time I had done with the car in the 14 months that I've owned it.)

The next time I drove (started) the car was the following Saturday; my son and I drove 18 miles to the local Cars & Coffee in Carlsbad, Ca. Again, no problems. We were at the Cars & Coffee for about 1.5 hours when I needed to leave to get my son to water polo practice.

The car started fine, and we made it out of the crowded parking lot; we turned onto the main thoroughfare, and about 2 blocks away, at the major intersection, the car stalled. It would not re-start. Pushed the car into the parking lot and attempted to bump-start it -- no luck. There was a gas station at this intersection, so I added gas, as fuel seemed to be the item that was missing. Finally had to have the car towed home on a flatbed.

Throughout the day (Saturday still) the car would not start. Additionally, I could not (did not) hear the Fuel Pump "click" upon turning the key (I was listening under the car while a kid turned the key.) No further attempts were made to start the car until Monday.

On Monday, I started my research of what the issues could be. In the afternoon, I swapped one of the Headlight Motor relays for the Fuel Pump relay (in the engine bay), and attempted to start the car. Low & behold ... the engine fired right up ... however, it barely idled; it constantly wanted to die. My first thoughts were, "bad relay," hooray! But, I placed the original Fuel Pump relay into the Headlight Motor location, and the Headlight popped up. I guess both relays are working ... The car started numerous times during this time.

I am guessing that the passage of time has allowed the car the ability to start again (which seems to lead me to a heat issue; but, it wasn't there 3 days before.)

Is my Fuel Pump beginning to fail?

Any hints, suggestions, and/or trouble-shooting advise is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ty....

How about a clogged fuel filter or filter sock in the tank?

or corroded electrical connections in the fuel pump circuits...everything clean and shiney?

The fuel pump circuits seem to be working ... cleaned and getting power when needed.

Next I'll replace the fuel filter.


The car starts up right away, but won't remain running.

I changed the fuel filter (it was filthy -- a reddish colored substance poured out of it; who knows the last time that was changed).

Anyhow, I ran the car for a while and got it warmed up. It idled a little better, but ran kind of rough, and did a bit of surging and gasping. Then, it essentially ran out of gas and stalled (there is gas in my tank). I could not get it restarted (it tried, but no fuel). There is power to the fuel pump ... but it's not doing much, it seems.

Either I've got a clog or my fuel pump is dying a slow and painful death ....

My car had exactly the same symptoms when I bought it. Despite the F-wit PO claiming he had professionally cleaned the tank. In fact full of flaky rust which got dragged to the filter. The car started and as more crap blocked the filter it then died. This happed repeatedly before I just pulled the tank and did the por 15 treatment. Its fine now.

Now it just stops for the arms length list of crap you have to fix on a 40 year old car, but I still like it.

PS I also changed all the fuel lines up the tunnel and engine bay as I hate garage fires.