- Joined
- 19 July 2022
- Messages
- 79
Just sharing here in case anyone else hit this issue. Big thanks to user BTL3.0 for all the help and selling me coil packs!
A few months ago I was on my way to a car show and the check engine light lit up. I was in the far left lane in 5th, but I managed to get to a nearby exit and shut down the car. In restarting the error didn't come back and all gauges looked happy so I went to the show and drove it home and it didn't do it again. In checking the codes the next day they were clear, so I chalked it up to something to keep an eye on.
About a month ago the check engine light came back, so this time we read it and found it was complaining about the front VTEC solenoid. I ordered a replacement and had it installed. I got the car back and nothing had changed.
I then went through all the coil packs one at a time and found some rust on the cylinder 1 coil and replaced that. None of this changed the symptoms of the issue.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the car was getting hard to start. Normally I can blip the ignition a couple of times and it fires right up. Now I found that I had to pump the gas to get it to fire. Hmmm. I had also recently noticed that when filling the tank I had to pull the pump out a bit or it would shut itself off. I figured that was likely the evap canister, but made a note to add it to the list of symptoms.
Last week the car got to the point where it was sputtering and intermittently bogging at anything under 3K RPM, and the check engine light was now tripping on both the front and rear solenoid. I figured at this point it was the fuel pump. As my mechanic didn't have a gauge that would fit the fuel filter on the '91 I ordered a gauge to leave installed on the car. This showed the pressure right at 30 which is low (should be 35 to 40 at idle). I had also already ordered an OEM pump from Japan that got here faster than expected, so I took that down to the shop and asked them to put it in. The mechanic that's been working on the car was skeptical, but agreed it was worth a shot. He finished up the car yesterday AM and I've been driving it ever since.
It not only resolved the issue, but it runs better than it did when I got it last year. Throttle is even more immediate, and the flywheel feels like it spins up faster (may be placebo but I'll take it).
As to the original pump that failed, they found that it was a Walbro aftermarket pump that may have gotten dried up (left with no fuel in the tank) when it was stored before I got it.
Hope this helps someone else. Also do yourself a favor and replace the pump with OEM parts. It's a pain and expensive to drop the tank, so you don't want to do that more than once. Chances are the OEM pump will outlive me...
A few months ago I was on my way to a car show and the check engine light lit up. I was in the far left lane in 5th, but I managed to get to a nearby exit and shut down the car. In restarting the error didn't come back and all gauges looked happy so I went to the show and drove it home and it didn't do it again. In checking the codes the next day they were clear, so I chalked it up to something to keep an eye on.
About a month ago the check engine light came back, so this time we read it and found it was complaining about the front VTEC solenoid. I ordered a replacement and had it installed. I got the car back and nothing had changed.
I then went through all the coil packs one at a time and found some rust on the cylinder 1 coil and replaced that. None of this changed the symptoms of the issue.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the car was getting hard to start. Normally I can blip the ignition a couple of times and it fires right up. Now I found that I had to pump the gas to get it to fire. Hmmm. I had also recently noticed that when filling the tank I had to pull the pump out a bit or it would shut itself off. I figured that was likely the evap canister, but made a note to add it to the list of symptoms.
Last week the car got to the point where it was sputtering and intermittently bogging at anything under 3K RPM, and the check engine light was now tripping on both the front and rear solenoid. I figured at this point it was the fuel pump. As my mechanic didn't have a gauge that would fit the fuel filter on the '91 I ordered a gauge to leave installed on the car. This showed the pressure right at 30 which is low (should be 35 to 40 at idle). I had also already ordered an OEM pump from Japan that got here faster than expected, so I took that down to the shop and asked them to put it in. The mechanic that's been working on the car was skeptical, but agreed it was worth a shot. He finished up the car yesterday AM and I've been driving it ever since.
It not only resolved the issue, but it runs better than it did when I got it last year. Throttle is even more immediate, and the flywheel feels like it spins up faster (may be placebo but I'll take it).
As to the original pump that failed, they found that it was a Walbro aftermarket pump that may have gotten dried up (left with no fuel in the tank) when it was stored before I got it.
Hope this helps someone else. Also do yourself a favor and replace the pump with OEM parts. It's a pain and expensive to drop the tank, so you don't want to do that more than once. Chances are the OEM pump will outlive me...
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