Welllll..that didn't cure it. The guy said it sounded like a "plugged up catalytic converter" so I got the sawzall and went to work, now it just runs real loud for sixty seconds and cuts out. I'll replace it today and keep trying. Still shows no codes. Saw a drip at the fuel filter and tightened to stop drip but no change. She starts, she runs, she dies, same story, different day.

 

I found the old fuel pump on the shelf so I figured I'd give that a try, nothing to lose and who knows, it might work but nothing doing, not a peep out of it, dead as the proverbial door nail as they say. Checked all the connections at the tank and the pump, looked inside the tank, everything looked normal and clean, put it back together with the new pump and nothing has changed ( see title ). I guess I'm off the fuel pump idea and waiting for another idea to fix the 3.1. Anybody think it sounds like injector failure? I looked at the price to replace them and I really don't want to go there.

 

I keep hoping to run into someone that knows how to troubleshoot these cars but no luck. For example, I asked a fifty-some year old guy who owns a lot of high dollar vintage cars and trucks, Corvettes, Cadillacs, hot-rods, etc., thought he might know something but he said if it has a computer he has to take it to someone else. Why would a reliable auto maker complicate a product to such a degree that the average person has no way of repairing it? I looked through my, by now, well worn manual and noticed the topic of "fuel pressure regulator" but from what I see on the internet it seems like if it fails it will probably leak, cause flooding and result in a smell of gas so I don't think it is the problem, BUT, I spent about a half hour using the manual and the internet to try to locate the bad boy on the 3.1 motor with no success yet. I would give it a try if I could find it without such a hassle, I know it should be somewhere near the fuel rail but nothing in that area looks like the drawing in the manual. By the time I get it fixed it should be a classic with low miles since I can't drive it if I wanted to. When it starts it seems to me that it uses the fuel in the line from the pump and then quits until the line gets refilled, at least that's the way it seems though it really doesn't make sense since I can hear the pump running. It never fails to start and it idles correct and you can give it gas but it dies quicker if you do and it will run noticeably longer if you just let it idle but after less than a minute she quits. It used to run on until the engine got to 180 or so degrees but that was until I tried testing with carb cleaner to find air leaks with no luck. It seems like the more I try the worse it gets but it seems like something stupid ( not the nut behind the wheel ) so I keep trying. I know where there is the same car in a scrap yard and I'm going to try to buy the electronic control module from it and see what happens, I still don't know why the numbers on the old module couldn't be matched at Autozone so I'm still suspicious of this new module they sold me, I wish I hadn't traded the old one in till I tried the new one but there's nothing I can do about that now. That's all I got for now.

 

yeah I still haven't figured out my problem. I just keep driving it with it sometimes running flawless for 2-3 minutes, sometimes cutting out constantly..

I still drive it a 45 mile trip evety week or 3 or or 4-6... And it makes it just fine... Once I'm up to speed on the highway, it almost never cut outs

But getting up to speed on the onramps, it cuts out BAD... And sitting at stoplights it somtimes will die 1-2-3-4 times! Sometimes I'll go to give it gas off a light and it dies..

Usually when it messes up bad, my best luck is just to floor it and spin the tires off the line.. I'm sure this is just tearing up the tranny, and motor mounts.... Especially when its bucking off the line as I floor it.. Full throttle, dead, full throttle, dead... Not to mention the tires!

At least my friend owns a tire shop, so I get tires cheap!

Getting my honda running next week, so at least I have another ride. Buuuuuuut my girl has to drive this car, and she wont drive it unless she HAS to, which sucks. Wish she could drive my honda, instead of me taking her EVERYWHERE. My honda is a 1990 prelude, but the oil pan LITERALLY sits 1.5" off the ground, as its slammed.. So no chance of her driving it!

 

and I'm not kidding, my honda sits on the ground haha... Not your average civic with cut springs


This picture is below the engine bay, the plastic hugs the oil pan. I can barely fit 2 fingers under the oil pan lol

 

Towlee: I was just wondering if its some kind of restriction in the fuel line itself. Some fuel gets through but not enough to keep it running. Somewhere between the tank all the way to the engine. I know you replaced the fuel filter but perhaps a crimp in the line or something like that. Good luck.

JPalmateer

 

The fuel pressure regulators are cheap, it can't hurt after all the other stuff you've done. I would go to Autozone and ask if they have one, then at least you will know what it looks like.

 

I like that idea about the restriction in the fuel line since I replaced the fuel tank it is possible that some crud might have got in there but thats not the case with Towilees car since it would have had to get past the filter on his fuel pump. I'll have a look at Autozone to see what the regulator looks like and if I do that job I'll try to disconnect the fuel lines up front and try to blow them out from the tank end. That certainly would explain why the pump is running but it seems like the engine runs out of gas. I've been driving my wife everywhere for over a year since she is not crazy about driving the other vehicles and I just won't give up on this one. Thanks for the ideas, Phil.

 

Since I still have the car raised up from the catalytic convertor job it was easy to roll under to inspect the length of the fuel line, no kinks but a good bit of serious rust-rot along one section and I wouldn't be surprised if some rust peeled off on the inside and went to the fuel pressure regulator. I stopped in at Autozone and got a look at the $81 replacement regulator so I know where it's at now and my plan is to remove mine and maybe I can clean it out but I also plan to replace the fuel line once I have it unscrewed from the regulator. What about it Towilee, hows that fuel line look like on your 3.1 ?

 

Towlee and Phil: Haven't seen any posts from you guys lately. Did you cure the problems in your cars? Just wondering.

J.Palmateer