fuel pressure test
 

My 93 SE died. 135K miles. Too many of those over 90 mph.

Was running fantastic after I recently replaced the Idler pully for the water pump. Drove to work in the morning no trouble and at the end of the day the car turns over but does not start.

There is a nice blue spark. No fuses are bad. I replaced the fuel filter and put an extra gallon in the tank. Still no go. Once in a while it will kick in for a few seconds and then slowly die. If I touch the gas pedal it dies immediately.

I figure its time to test fuel pressure. My service manual diagrams a pressure guage in line with after the fuel filter, attached with hose clamps. However the only high pressure guages I can find have a shrader valve that apparantly hooks to the fuel rail and I can't find a place to hook it in.

Any suggestions?

How else can I tell if its the pump, pressure regulator or something else?

Thanks,

Jake

BTW, why can't I search old posts?

I had a similiar problem with my Maxima, but before i went to the fuel pump, and and injection system. the problem was Mass Air Flow Sensor (MAF). I found it to be the problem by accident, when i got ****ed at my car and punched it, and the car shut off completley. If you wanna tap on the airflow sensor and see if it does something go for it. Did you check your PCV valve.

My maxima SE

Go to the harware store, get a pressure gauge. Find an adapter for an air tool that will thread to the bottom of gauge. Get some hose and a T. Put it all together and make you own tool. Get a gauge made for fluid, not air. They have Brass Guts.

Wrong Car PIC this is it My 90 Maxima SE

OHH, if the reg quits, the car still runs just not well. If it doesn,t have enough pressure, its most likely the pump. Listen for it to run when you turn on the key. If the pump goes out they usually quit when you shut off the car.

Yes, when you first turn on the key without cranking, you should be able to hear the pump in the tank. If it is running, try disconnecting the harness from the MAF sensor. If the car then starts, the MAF is bad.

I had the exact same thing happen today after work. Car turns over, idles, then dies. If I touch the accelerator, it dies immediately. Anyone have a solution for this?

check your MAF, black thing with wires going into it on intake tubing.
and check to make sure your fuel pump is coming on. smell gas or anything?

Thanks for the quick reply! but now it's dark and snowing. that is exactly the advice I figured out after the last 2 hours of reading. But, I'll have to wait 'till tomorrow before I go back out to the car (parked a couple blocks from the house).

What am I checking the MAF for, exactly? I've read that if I just pull it once the car turns over, it should idle at 2500rpms? Is that right? Is there something else to look at on the MAF to tell if it's functioning properly?

And to check the fuel pump, I was just going to pull the back seat and the fuel pump cover panel and then listen to see that it, in fact, comes on. I've read that the electrical checks aren't particularly helpful as they don't help diagnose any mechanical problems so even if those reading are fine, the pump could still be the problem. I did notice that my fuel tank didn't give its usual "pfffffft" pressure escaping sound when I opened the gas cap so I'm thinking that fuel pump may be the culprit. I'll update tomorrow AM when I take a look at these things.

Also, how do I check my fuel pump relay? I'm pretty sure I can find it, thanks to http://forums.maxima.org/3rd-generat...ump-relay.html, but what am I looking for there? How do I know if it's broken?

No noticeable gas smell in, on, or around the car.

when the MAF is disconnected your idle should be normal (1500rpm when cold 750ish when warmed up) but the car will not rev above 2000 rpm.
FWIW when my van did the same thing last year it was a wire to the TPS that was cut. I would check out the TPS signal first.
I also replaced the fuel pump mistakenly (0* weather with snow on the ground done on the street had to drop fuel tank)

:nopity:

you don't really think I would do that myself do you?
I paid some poor shmuck $120 to do it. took him 20+ hours in real time to do it over the course of 3 days. :D
yes it was done on the street in the snow in january.

holysh!t snow on the ground no way! haha just pullin your chain man, I'm up here in Canada and there's already snow around.
OP you should be able to hear the fuel pump come on just fine without removing the back seat when you turn the ignition to acc.

I can't hear anything coming from the fuel pump. I pulled the back seat and I still can't hear anything.

Pulling the MAF connection and trying to start makes no difference.

Pulling the Fuel Pump fuse and trying to start also makes no difference. Would there be a code for a dead fuel pump? If I was able to get it someplace to read codes, of course.

What sort of electrical checks can I make on the fuel pump connectors to make sure that it's getting the juice and the signals that I need?

you can pull codes yourself http://forums.maxima.org/3rd-generat...-then-off.html
basically you turn the dial all the way to the right, wait for it to blink 3 times, then turn it all the way to the left, and it gives you codes, easy as that.

if you have an FSM it should show the pinout for the fuel pump connector so can check for power there.

checked the electrical. All looks good there.

checked fuel pressure. No pressure. Fuse is good. Can barely hear the fuel pump even with the back seat removed. Gonna get a new fuel pump. $86 at autozone.

86 dollars at autozone? Is that for a rebuilt or a new one?

...pulled codes yet?

codes won't tell you anything about fuel pressure :o

That only happens when there is pressure in the tank from the gas expanding and giving off fumes when it gets warm. Does not have anything to do with pressure in the fuel lines.

or he could have a bad overflow hose, causing pressure not to build. pretty common problem on 3g's.

Seemed new to me. Though I didn't inspect it too closely. I'll find the box and get back to you.

I didn't actually pull codes because it looked from the FSM like there weren't any codes that would be helpful to me. But I did check the fuel pressure and got a reading of 0. So I replaced the fuel pump and all is good now.

Thanks everyone for your help.

86 bucks for a fuel pump? That's an amazing price. I remember paying 375.00 or something for the Bosch one, but then again it's for the GXE so maybe completely different.

Are you talking about the hose that connects all the way to the carbon canister? I only say 3 small hoses coming out of the tank, not including the one to the filler neck.

no, the short one that near the filler neck, that runs over the rear suspension xmember.

Yea. I thought it was super cheap. But I called around and a number of stores had it for a similar price (pep boys and checker were right at 86 as well). This was for the dual cam. The single was way pricier. About 300 I think.

GXE $ > SE $

tbh i had no idea they were even different. is it really GXE vs SE (either engine) or is it VG vs VE?

Both the Single and Double came up as options after they asked if mine was SE or GXE.

VG vs VE