As posted earlier, I thought the problem was in the fuel pre-pump or lift pump in the gas tank. But there was noise indicating that the pre-pump was running, and the little filter was dirty and partially collapsed. So I changed the filter.

It started right up, and ran just fine. It was low on gas, so I went to the gas station, about 4 miles, and gassed it up. But it would not restart. Wound up having it towed home after 30 minutes of trying.

Can anyone help me figure out what is wrong? I can fix problems very well, but I can't diagnose them to save my life.

Symptoms:
Yesterday was running just fine, like always. Wife parked it at store, and it sat for about 20 min. On restart is just wouldn't go. Her description was so vague and annoying it resulted in a hell of a fight, but. . . She was able to limp back to work with it, and reported that it did not buck, backfire, etc. just did not respond to throttle.

It sat at her office about 20 minutes, and she was able to start it and it ran just fine, so she took it around the block. No problem.

I went up to get it and at first it wouldn't start, and the main fuel pump made gravelly noise, louder than usual too. But then it suddenly started, ran fine and made the 25 mile trip home with only one glitch: pulling into our neighborhood, I made a sharp right turn. It died, but restarted right up and made it home fine.

This morning, I worked on it after reading the 700/900 FAQ. The lift or pre-pump was making noises, and so was the main pump, so they and their relays were both presumed to work. I pulled the lift pump and found the filter sock dirty and collapsed. Changed it and the sound of the main pump was much "finer" no more gravel noises. Started up and ran fine. Went to gas station as stated above.

Now, she won't run. The tow truck driver said maybe the pre-pump fails after it gets hot from running a while. I don't know about that. While waiting for the tow truck I checked the FI relay (just fine and both circuits are working), and swapped the electric fan relay with the radio supression relay to no avail. So all the usual relays and ECU circuits are presumed to be working.

Any ideas on how or what to troubleshoot or what it might be? Really need to get this car going soon.


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Scott Cook - 1991 745T, 1985 RX-7 GSL-SE, 1986 Toyota Tercel (Don't laugh, it is reliable, faithful AND gets 41 mpg!)