Fuel Pump ?? (no) .. Main Relay .. (no) ... Hellpppp

[CHonda]

so this is the situation.. about 3 months ago i went to the gas station..
filled up ... went to start the car again to drive home and the car died.
a friend and i pushed it forward into a parking stall at the gas station.

I left the car there for 3 hours .. ran around, did some errands,
another friend drop me back off at the car in a final attempt to get it
home and surprisingly it started.. I quickly drove the car home and parked it
on my driveway.. the next day, i went to start the car again but this time
no luck .. .

The car will crank, and turn over, it just won't fire up.

I checked the following items

1) ignition coil for spark
2) spark plugs
3) plug wires (bought brand new becuz a green/blue residue was found on them)
4) dist. & rotor (7 months old)
5) fuel filter

All the above items that were checked, seemed fine.
Also, a tune up was done about this time last spring, so all of the above items are not even 12 months old..

From more searching, I then found this forum and followed the steps
based on what it said ..

Turning the key to the on position, the lights on the dash light up, including the check engine light. ...After about 5 secs, all the dash lights remain on except for the seatbelt and parking brake light.

From my reading, I concluded that perhaps its my main relay ..

sO.... i went to the junkyard, pulled of a new one, connected it up, and tested it again..
Still no start .. When I put the key to the 'on' position, I can hear the relay click (therefore
is should be fine, rite?) however I do not hear the fuel pump start or wind up..

sO.... thinking perhaps my fuel pump was gone, i went to the
junkyard, pulled of a new one, connected it up, and tested it again..
Still no start ..

For troubleshooting purposes, I hardwired a lead from the battery directly to the fuel pump and heard the pump start up, so I know for sure that my fuel pump is okay. I've checked all the fuses (ie. relay/fuse box under dash & under hood) and they are good.

I know I do not have a clogged fuel line because after manually wiring the fuel
pump and allowing it to run for a lil bit to get some fuel up under the hood, attempted to start again and still no luck . checked the connection by the fuel rail under the hood and fuel was definitely pumped up from my manual
hardwired setup ..

sooo .. after all this, it appears as if no current or power is getting sent to the fuel pump.. pretty sure it can't be the main relay because I hear click.
More searching, and I found something that said it could be something to do with the ECU ... I check all the for the ECU and fuel pump and they are good.

Any ideas ? Is there anyway to properly check the two wires that power the fuel pump? im confident they are dead (the two wires) because it doesn't start the pump when the key is in the on position, hoever the pump starts when directly connected . .... pleaseeeee ... anyone have any ideas or suggestions

-1988 Accord EX-I, (pgm-fi)
-stock everything

[carotman]

Turning the key to the on position, the lights on the dash light up, including the check engine light. ...After about 5 secs, all the dash lights remain on except for the seatbelt and parking brake light.

The Check Engine Light doesn't come off after 5 secs?

[CHonda]

naw... the check engine, oil, and battery indicators on the dash all stay lit up

[AccordEpicenter]

ecu or main relay

[CHonda]

Heard the main relay click though...also, reconnected my old main relay and that clicks too ... (so outta the 2 main relays I have, I'm pretty sure both are working) ...

I was thinking ECU as well, but the only thing I kinda know what to check for regarding the ECU is the fuses .. and they are all good to go

[AccordB20A]

gotta be a ecu issue. my other accord does the same thing but it starts. but the pgmfi light stays on, then i found a fuse in the engine bay that seemed to be making the ecu think the key was on.....long story short..fucked ecu.. try another won.. or check your fuses or check your error codes

[carotman]

If the check engine light comes on, you can just retrive the code it will give you and start from there.

[shepherd79]

the main relay is actually two relays in one. one for fuel pump and the other one for something else i can't remember.
just because you hear it clicking doesn't mean the fuel pump relay is working.
take it out and resolder the conectors on it. sometimes it can fix the problem.

[Oldblueaccord]

Yeah I think the other side cuts the injectors actually. I would just jumper it out and try that to rule out. I have run a wire straight to the fuel pump as well but I didnt think it would stay on an run. I did it in a parking lot so maybe it was my method. If it has spark and fuel it should run.


wp

['A20A3']

loose injector ground?

it's kinda a bitch to see unless you're looking but it comes off the wiring harness on the fuel rail and bolts to the intake manifold. if that was loose it would cause an intermittent problem. hope this helps.

[bradSA138]

I just got this problem myself-- but my fuel pump isn't working though,
I am curious because that my check engine light came on when my ignition wires were bad; so I replaced them.

[LX-incredible]

Check the ecu grounds. These should help:

[stereo]

if you didn't use a brand new relay it can still be bad...try resoldering it as we get cars in all the time with bad main relays they sound normal just the fuel pump doesn't spool up, and it usally happens after after you turn the car off after a drive or if it's hot outside.

[CHonda]

Hey guys ... thanx again for all your help ... so the problem was with the ECU
..You guys are right as always .. check the pic out below ...

I assume water that came in from my leaking sunroof made it all the way to the floor and rusted the hell
outta the ECU ... check the top right corner... that corrosion ate right through the metal and was all on the circuit board ..
Once i swapped in a 2nd hand ECU from the scrap yard, she started up ...
she purrs once more ... but true say I noticed something weird now and am uncertain if this new 'problem' could have arose becuz of the new ECU ...
the other night I was driving, bumping my music as usual ... got to a red light
and the car straight up died. kinda like power was completely cut.
the lights dimmed, the radio shut off, and the car died ...
i restarted the car, drove some more but the next stop light it started to do the same thing ... began to idle low, lights dimmed, radio cut then car shut off again ..
I figured perhaps because my stereo was pulling too much from the car battery .. i took the face off my deck and drove without any music and it hasnt happened since ... i did a trial like 2 days later driving around bumping my music hard and i saw the dimming occur at a red light so i quickly shut the stereo off before the car had a chance to die out ... any ideas/suggestions?
With the old ECU, this never happened no matter how much I pounded my stereo and I've never had the need to wire in a capacitor ...
I'm running fosgate 1000 watt amp and 2 fosgate 12''
For now, I've just unplugged my subs from the amp as a temp. fix


Thanks again for everything .. y'all have no idea how grateful I am

[LX-incredible]

Hey guys ... thanx again for all your help ... so the problem was with the ECU
..You guys are right as always .. check the pic out below ...

Holy shit, that looks nasty. The drain tubes in the roof must be clogged. Your new problem doesn't sound ecu related. Check to make sure your grounds from the battery are good. If they check out, look at the alternator and the battery.