[T3] car died on way home

[Jim Adney]

Sorry, meant to reply to this earlier...

On 8 Mar 2012 at 19:05, Bryon Garvin wrote:

> Was cruising down the road and went over a speed bump
> about 5 mph faster than I usually do and after the bump, I got both idiot
> lights and the engine died.  I immediately pulled over with a stalled
> engine.  Got out and opened up the engine compartment and looked around.

>  Nothing glaring.  Tried to start the car a few times and it turned over
> fine but would stay running. 

I assume there should be a NOT in there.

> I thought about the bump and crawled under the front to check the fuel
> pump.  Connector was still on but I wiggled it anyway just to see if
> got loose or corroded connections or something. 

Okay, reasonable thing to check.

>  Tried to start again, nothing.  Road was busy with traffic/noise and so I
> had trouble telling if the 2 clicks for FI were happening.  I shut the
> door, rolled up the windows and tried to listen.  I felt like I heard 2
> clicks but couldn't be totally sure.  I ran Jim's pump primer and heard
> bubbles.  That was weird.  So it told me (I think) that I lost pressure at
> some point in the fuel ring.  Hmmmm.....so I held the button down and
> turned the key.  Bam, the car started.  I held the button down and drove
> away.  When I let go of it, it started to stall again.  In the end, holding
> the pump primer button down the whole time got me home.  I felt victorious
> to have gotten home without too much trouble and was also pretty sure what
> the problem would be.....a fuel pump relay, right?

Back at the engine, against the "firewall," just to left of center, 
there should be an inline connector that connects a FI wiring harness 
wire from the brain to a wire into the rear main wiring harness. This 
wire leads to the fuel pump relay and is what makes the relay close. 
Check that connection and make sure that the wires are plugged 
together correctly. Sometimes, if someone has been in a hurry, the 
two connectors get pushed in there alongside one another instead of 
inserted inside one another.

I'd also check to make sure that the mounting screw for the FI main 
power relay, under the back seat, is well tightened. It doesn't sound 
like this is your problem, but your experience is pretty odd.

Make sure your distributor is pushed all the way down into the engine 
case. The dist mount bracket should lay flat on top of the case and 
not push the distributor up at all. (probably not the problem)

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************