Ok. I need help here. I was leaving on vacation and my car died. I have no CEL or codes being thrown. It ran fine the day before when I fueled up for my trip. I put a line on my fuel pump and it appears to be pumping gas. I installed a new crankshaft sensor and fuel filter, still does not start, only turns over and runs for a second or two. I can use starter fluid and the engine will run as long as I keep squirting it in the intake. I have 70k miles on it and it did sit awhile since I had spine surgery. I’ve searched the forums and cannot figure it out. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

I believe this is the link in the chain (i.e. fuel pump) that needs to be examined more closely. Questions... how long did it sit? Did you flush the old gas out of the tank? Have you tested the fuel pressure?

I can't tell you how many fuel pumps and fuel filters I've replaced on vehicles over the years because of the side effects of running ethanol based gasoline. I'm assuming when you've said it's not throwing codes, you've actually hooked it to a Durametric or compatible scanner? IMHO, I'd make sure all the old gas is out of the car and fill with fresh premium and then attempt again. If the problem persists like it's struggling, then IMHO, you may have clogged injectors, but if it dies immediately after startup or doesn't turn over at all, then the problem could be a faulty fuel pump. I'll let the experts on the site chime in.

This may help...

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Porsche-996-997-Carrera/22-FUEL-Replacing_the_Fuel_Pump/22-FUEL-Replacing_the_Fuel_Pump.htm

 

[left]Thank you for the reply! I looked on my phone and only saw I drove the car last on 100817. But I think I did once after that. I also would keep it on a battery charger and start it up a few times since then. I do know on March 26 I pulled out the car washed it, drove it around a bit and went to Chevron to fill the tank for the trip. On March 30, it started right up, I loaded our gear and we got about 1 mile down the road when it stalled as I approached a stop sign. I try to start it, it runs for a second or so, then shut down. I put an OBDII on it and no codes. I replaced the air and fuel filters and the crank positioner sensor. I used the link you provided to check my pump. Mine is in a different spot, being a C4, it is under a cover in front of the battery cover. There are 3 push on connectors on top of the tank. One is in the center the other two are on the driver side of the top. One has a green connector, which was pressurized when I removed it as gas poured out like a hose. The other two had no pressure. I connected a clear siphon hose where the green connector went, and when I cranked over the car, I could see gas being pumped into the siphon hose.
Since the engine runs on starting fluid, I presume it is not getting fuel to it on its own. How can I check the fuel pressure? The pump doesn’t look too hard to change. But I guess I can empty the tank and replace it with new gas, but I assume it would run crappy rather than not at all if it were the gas, as I did drive it on Monday, added more fuel, and drive it away on Friday. There were no symptoms prior to it dying on me. I’d pull it out and wash it from time to time, and take it around the block or so, and never had any rough running issues.
Thanks again for the reply. You can see the green quick connector in the photo (I hope).
Robert.

 

Here is the top of my my tank, the green connector at the 4 o'clock position (in the photo) is the line that I got fuel pressure and gas to come out of while the car turned over.

 

You can purchase fuel pressure kits at Autozone or of course, order one online. Have you tried simply replacing the fuel pressure sensor on the car?


https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...with-pics.html

Hate to lead you down the wrong road, but obviously, you got to figure out first if the fuel to traveling to the engine at proper pressure. As you're probably aware, fuel pumps can appear to be working, but not at optimum pressure. The fuel problem can be eliminated with pressure test.

 

Thanks for the reply. I will have to track that sensor down, as most tech articles are C2 related, things are not where they appear on the C4 car. An example is that I do not have to remove my battery to get to the fuel sender/pump as it is in front of the battery, not beneath it, but that is the only tech article I have found for sender/pump removal.
I did use the jumper trick on Friday and put a line from the green connector hose to my gas can. It took at least 5 minutes to empty the tank. Or at least there were a lot of air bubbles in the line at that point in time. So yes, the pump is pumping, but we do not know how much. I did read a few articles about guys checking their pressure, and there were varying values for what is the correct pressure. I did not see an article on how they hooked up the gauge to the fuel system though. If it can be done at the line on the tank I used, it is pretty easy, but I can assume guys do it from the engine compartment from what I read.
Again, thanks for chiming in. With over 300 views, I was hoping someone with a C4 that had a similar issue, would also chime in too. Hopefully soon, before I change every working part on the car in an effort to find the correct broken part. I'll update as I can get to working on the car. I have limited time, so bear with me.

 

Hope you find the source of the problem. If I have time this week, I'll attempt to find the properly pressure for the fuel in the shop manual. You might try posting the same question to Rennlist.

If you decide to replace the fuel pump, here's a great video... In the video is a C4S, but it should be relatively the same process on the fuel pump side.


Cheers!

 

Thank you for the reply and video. Way better than the Pelican write up, as video is better, but both work well hand-in-hand. Yesterday, I pulled the sender and looked at the pump. I want to see the part number on my pump before I buy another, because I want to see I am getting the right part. I presume that I wont get to it until my next full day off- Monday. We will see though, its raining in Sunny So. Cal., so that will slow me down, as I don't want to stand at the open garage door with the rain on my back. Plus that is also the day I scheduled my (daily driver) Samurai's oil change/tire rotation date, so I'll be wrenching on two vehicles that day. I was going to drop my RAM off at Dodge for the airbag recall, but that may take up too much of my day. Double-billing is one thing, but triple-billing is a whole other animal- time-wise, anyway.


All these gurus and you are towing the line, thanks again. And I'll keep updating the post, as it should help someone down the line.
Robert

 

Thanks Robert! Glad to hear the video is helpful to you. If you need to reach out to the guy on Youtube that produced it, he usually responds the same day. Super nice guy! Thank you again for the thread, I'm learning a lot!

 

OK. Got the pump out, tried to squeeze the saddle hard line mounts, but the tabs push outward. I found this split hose, which I can see (barely) in the original photo of the top of the fuel pump. I think I read somewhere where a guy had his split and that was the issue of not starting. I do not want to get too excited, but it would be better a split hose than a fuel pump. I can try to install a replacement section of hose. What you think about that?

 

OK, I went to Autozone and spent $5 on a hose and clamps. Kind of a pain, but got it all back in there. I'm not certain I missed all the fuel lines with the sender. Anyway, I cranked it over and for about 6 seconds. Started. Drove it to the Chevron and put in 7.3 gallons of Super Unleaded. Lets see if it holds up, gonna have to take it out for a test run.

 

 

I think this is the article that I read before. I hope this will help people who had a similar issue that I did; car acts as if its fuel starved, no codes, no prior issues. Maybe the GT cars have the pump under the battery, but I do not think the rest of our cars do. Looking at the initial photo, the offending fuel hose could be inspected (if you look in my photo, you can see the split) without having the pump removed from the tank. This inspection is much easier than trouble shooting items under the car on in the engine compartment- IMHO.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-gt2-...re-thread.html

 

Cool deal! Did you replace it with an OEM hose or one of those fuel resistant flex hoses?

 

I used an aftermarket hose, I am going to try to find the factory one as it is shorter and creates more room for the sender. My new line as about 10" long. If you know of an OEM part number, let me know. So far all I have found is the complete pump online.