Andrew:
What you are describing could very well be a bad connection between
the big heavy power cable on the starter solenoid lug. Symptoms are very
much the same. You might try cleaning the terminal and see if it helps.
Current flow can be intermittent if this connection is dirty. Once the
current is made to jump through the corrosion (when you banged the pump) the
connection will work for a while. But it will reoccur.
Kelvin.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Errington [mailto:ame@synaptics.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 10:30 PM
> To: mgs@autox.team.net
> Subject: Fuel pump annoyance?
>
>
> Hi,
>
> if anyone is keeping my emails then they will have a
> collection of things
> that could go wrong and did. Writing to the list is like
> writing a journal,
> recording what has happened for posterity...
>
> Dear Diary,
>
> how I do hate that Mr Lucas. The Prince of Darkness has
> struck me again,
> although this time I think the blame must lie fairly and
> squarely on the
> shoulders of Mr Skinner. Imagine my consternation when I
> turned the key
> this evening and *nothing* (well, nothing except the very dim
> glow of the
> alternator light). "What sorcery is this!", I exclaimed.
> Thinking the
> battery had mysteriously drained I enlisted the help of a
> colleague, who was
> also working late, for a 'jump start'. Finding this to no
> avail I toured
> the car's electrical system with my flashlight and found
> everything appeared
> to be in order. "Hmm", thought I as I pondered my predicament. No
> headlights, no radio, nothing. Curiously, however, if I left
> the ignition
> on for a while the alternator light would light to full brightness.
>
> Turn key, no click from solenoid. I hoped to the forces of
> good and light
> that the solenoid had not succumbed to the evil curse. And
> yet, leaving the
> ignition on, suddenly brightness from the alternator light!
> The ignition
> circuit was alive! Turn key, silence, and within that, darkness.
>
> The fuel pump? It should click a few times to fill the bowls
> when I turn
> the key, mayhaps it is indeed the problem. Could the points
> be sticking and
> putting too great a load on the electrical system?
>
> And so, dear diary, I hit the fuel pump with my flashlight, and lo, it
> worked.
>
> What else will fail this week...
>
> Andy
>
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