Cranking but no fuel pump sound for 2 sec?

[Bilulan]

98 model year...

I've spent the past hour or so reading through main relay/resistor/fuel pump diagnosis. Most described others hearing the fuel pump for the 2 seconds. I wasn't able to get a great understanding of where to look when you don't hear the pump.

1) Battery is fully charged/Strong starter motor cranking
2) I hear the initial click of the starter motor followed by strong turnover but it fails to start after about 4 seconds of cranking. Absolutely NO smell of fuel.
3) With key in "On" position, I don't hear any sound lasting for the 2 seconds (fuel pump priming.)
4) I had relatively NO notice of any inherent problems, but haven't been able to start the car since. All dash lights turn on as normal.

Aside from getting a new main relay, is there anything else I can look at(specific fuses, jumping the resistor w/ paper clip) that I could try while ordering a potential main relay?

 

[Briank]

I would look at the fuel pump resistor or the Fuel pump itself. Can you check for power at the fuel pump resistor?

 

[Bilulan]

Ironically, I took the back panel off to reveal the main relay. I just wanted to see how hard it was to replace. I didn't hear the relay clicking when I had the key in "on" so I tapped on it a few times.

I then tried starting the car and it started right up but had an extra gassy smell for a short bit.

Today while driving I started to notice after blipping the throttle to 2K-3K rpm's that as it came back to 400 rpm, the car shimmied for a half second before idling normal. Would this be from all the tries turning the car over?

I can't seem to find my test light or ohm meter to check for power at the resistor, but now that it is running, not sure if it would help.

In my review of old threads, am I correct in understanding that once the car is started, the main relay has absolutely nothing to do with any additional problems (ie stalling out, rough idle, etc....) and that it then becomes ignition, fuel pump, ecu?

 

[CDX_NSX]

I'm not certain as I haven't heard of anyone stalling out from a bad main relay after an extend period of driving, but a bad main relay can allow a car to start, run for a short while and then stall as happened to me on one of my Legends.

In that instance, I replaced the relay with a new one bought at the dealer. However, my second experience with a bad main relay happened on a Sunday in my driveway. Being that it was a Sunday, I couldn't get a new one at the dealer. Fortunately, I had found a solution for this after my first mishap that involves resoldering the dry/broken solder joint on the circuit board. I actually soldered over all of the joints just to be safe, but the car started right up after reinstalling the relay with no problems since.

This is the info I used. [ LINK ]

 

[drew]

I've had the main relay giving out during routine driving.

Just reach back and give the relay a whack and the car will rumble back to life. That is if you are in gear at speed. If not in gear, you will have to depress clutch, turn key and go from there. It can be a little stressful if you have done this before.

You have to be ready for this, "visualize it happing" (important: that way it won't be a surprise and you will react properly) and practice the failure drill a couple of times. So when it does happen, it will not affect your ability to drive.

Drew

 

[Bilulan]

Started having the problem again tonight. I printed out some trouble shooting from my 97 manual on CD.

I started out putting a test light on the fuel pump resistor. No power on either side during clutch in/ign to start. No point jumping these together because there's no power there.

I went thru trouble shooting on pages 11-144 thru 11-146 and finally found a possible problem on page 11-146. It states to test for power between the ECM connectors A13 to A12 and then A12 to C1 during ignition switched to ON.

I get power on A13, and C1 but not at A12 (a relatively thick Black Wire.) It states to replace PGM-F1 main relay or look for opens in the wire (unlikely as I have never touched any wiring lately.)

I'm still searching through the manual to find out what A12 is for. Could this possibly be throwing power to the fuel pump resistor?

My main relay should be in tomorrow so this seems like a good sign.

 

[drew]

Care to share the results of what you have done so far?

Drew

 

[mattd]

Remember if your are checking for power at the resistor, it will only be active for 2 sec. So if you turn the key on and walk back there, you will see no power.

 

[Bilulan]

I am back up and running. It was the main relay - FOR SURE!
I was skeptical after reading so much about ignition switches, resistors, ECU's but I had absolutely no electrical flickers. The 97+ shop manual really depicts trouble shooting this perfectly.

BrianK was right. The troubleshooting started by checking the fuel pump resistor. I wedged my test light into each side of the plug (separately) and viewed it thru the window during the initial 2 sec. key click, but no juice. After I tested everything, I still was not sure it would be main relay or ECU.

The funny thing is, the main relay got me running and completely resolved another challenge I have just lived with for the past 8-10 months.

The other problem was...
When starting the car from rest (5 hours or more), if I didn't wait approx 4 to 5 seconds before attempting to move w/ the car in gear, it would stall. I could tell it was going too and could usually push the clutch back in quickly to prevent. If the car had been running recently, it would never display this stalling effect. During the first 30 seconds of driving from long rest, it would also deliver a little bit of jerkyness 1 or 2 times, as if the engine wasnt getting fuel, but never stalled in these situations.

I am quite pleased that this $55 part resolved both problems.

I feel like the car pulls harder now. Not sure if its because I've been rolling around in an SUV for a few days, or if it really made a difference.

Anybody have thoughts on that?

I know the ECU controls the fuel pump once running, but the main relay seems to still play a part.
Under WOT, could the engine have been running w/ less than the intended fuel delivery if the main relay was going bad, even if I didn't notice it?