No start after sitting for 10 minutes

[dbgrubbs]

Hey guys, my car won't start. Here's the story... I was on a 2 hour drive at mostly highways speeds with some stops along the way. The car was running fine, just like always. I arrived at my destination and after maybe 10 minutes I came back to the car. It would start and sputter for about 10 seconds and die. I kept coming back out to crank it and eventually it would only crank and not even fire. I checked the fuel pump fuse and it looked good and also switched some of the relays around in case one had gone bad. I also took off the fuel pump cover and it didn't feel like it was coming on.

After doing some research, I'm thinking it has to be the fuel pump or the crank position sensor. The car is about 70 miles away from me right now so I can't test anything at the moment. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do next and what parts I should bring with me tomorrow. There's a 91 318ic in a junkyard not too far away that I could get parts off of.

Forgot to mention that I also did a stomp test and it gave the code 1271 which is for the coils.

'91 318is- 218k miles with MarkD chip, mess under the intake mod, and mustang injectors.

Thanks for your help.

[Geoff]

when my fuel pump died,  it restarted itself after a friend of mine thumped on the bottom of the gas tank!   it then ran long enough to get me home (12 miles)  and I was able to replace it in the driveway.  if it is the pump itself you may get lucky also.   so I would say,  test crank sensor, check or replace relay, if both good then thump and see if it works.  if the thump doesnt bring it back, then the pump is dead or not getting power because of a bad wire or connection or something.   Luckily the pump is not too awfully bad to do, and I guess you could get it done by the roadside if you absolutley have to.
                                             Geoff

[DesktopDave]

I'd take a bit of jumper wire (possibly with male spades pre-crimped on the ends), maybe a spare crank sensor, perhaps a coil pack or two, and a spare DME if you have one.  Unfortunately, you can't easily replace the crank sensor on the road.  It's under the A/C mount bracket, bit of a PITA to get at.

I'd take a resistance reading of the crank & cam sensors first.  If they're OK I'd see if it's starting the pump properly; if not, jump the FP relay socket pins 30 & 87 to see if the pump runs properly with the key on.  Check the pump connector in the trunk, sometimes they're intermittent.

Then I'd pull FP relay or jumper and then all four spark plugs.  Re-connect them to the HT leads & lay them on top of the cam cover (so the plug body is grounded).  Crank it over & see if all four spark (be sure the car can't inject fuel...FP relay pulled...we don't want to start a fire).  This isn't a conclusive test, but it can help.  I'm hoping that your DME is OK.  If a coil has died it may have taken a coil driver with it, damaging the DME.

[dbgrubbs]

Thanks for the replies.

Ok, so I went to the junkyard and couldn't find any sensors or fuel pumps, but did find some relays. So I took the jumper wire and some tools and set off to work on the car. When I got there, I first put the jumper on the fuel pump relay socket pins 30 & 87. Then, I went to the fuel pump to test voltage. It was getting power so I took out the fuel pump and connected it to the battery and it seemed to work. I put it back in and drove all the way home. Worked fine... until I turned off the car in the garage and tried to start it again. Wouldn't start. Went to O'reilly and picked up a new fuel pump, installed it, and the car starts right up. Hopefully it will start in the morning!

[318lotis]

I had same problem, i removed fuel pump and tapped on it with rubber mallet, i then benched tested it with 12 volt battery, it hummed, after more tapping it started to pump.
its back in car now running fine, don't know how long it will last.