Hi All,

I posted recently about possible electrical gremlins messing with the running on my 244ti.. it had been missing on acceleration and I had gone through a number of tries to clear it up. New tune up parts, new fuel filter, etc..

Car broke down the other day. Full tank of gas, but lost power. After sitting for a while, it started up fine. Ran for about 10 minutes and quit again.

When I got it home, I checked out the fuses (again.. that was my first check on the roadside). I had recently cleaned the whole box. It all looked good, no blown fuses.

When the key was turned, no fuel pump noises. Looked at the pump relay - had cracks. Bypassed with a wire at fuses 5 and 7, still no start. Hmm. Rapped the main fuel pump with a mallet and tried again. Pumps started buzzing. Car starts! Quits after about 35 seconds. Re-try, no pump noise again. Repeat prior sequence.

I went ahead and replaced the relay due to the age/cracking, and soldered the spade connectors on the plug's connector. Now the car will start with "just" a rap on the fuel pump, but the pump makes some wierd hi-lo grindy noises. In tank pump is 4 years old and sings happily when the car is running.

I'm still going to check for full voltage at the main pump, but it seems like it's dying, right?

Thanks - Y