[deltadart]

93 Dodge Spirit-207K miles-4 cyl. Car started fine in the morning. A few hours later the car will not start. It will turn over but simply won't start. Took off air cleaner and there is no gas smell. Turn the key and don't hear the fuel pump energize.

Always heard it before. I'm thinking failed fuel pump but is it possible it could be a relay located in the engine bay? I don't think it has a regular fuse to check. Just would like to make sure if the fuel pump need's to be replaced. Thanks!

 

[Bob Lincoln]

Yes, check all the fuses underhood, and also check fault codes.

 

[chuzz]

After doing what Bob suggested, try tapping the middle of the gas tank with a rubber mallet. Maybe the fuel pump is on the way out and is stuck. If tapping the tank gets her running, then you'd better go ahead and replace it before cold weather gets hear and it leaves you stranded when it's 20 degrees, snowing and a strong wind is blowing in from the north.

 

[B10alia]

The relay you're looking for is the fuel pump relay, the ASD on this car does not control the fuel pump directly. (I had to do some research... I remembered unplugging a relay to do TB service and starting the engine with the fuel pump off. The fuel pump relay supplies power to the fuel pump itself, but will not kill spark if it fails.) I've heard that there are underhood relays that are interchangeable for testing purposes, but I've also heard that you can't swap them because of the design of the relay case itself. The relays should all be in the neighborhood of the driver's strut tower.
http://cdn.2carpros.com/automotive_pictures/170934_ac_clutch_relay_1.jpg

 

[Bob Lincoln]

On many of these cars, the ASD relay cascades to the fuel pump relay. So the fuel pump relay won't close if the ASD is open. In this instance, the coil of the fuel pump relay is energized by the *load* side of the ASD relay.

Some cars of this vintage have a power distribution box for the relays, rather than discretely mounted to the firewall.

 

[John Wood]

You might try putting a half a cup of gasoline down the TBI to see if it fires up for a second. If it does, that will give you the confidence that the ASD relay is closing and that you are most likely looking at a failed fuel pump.
As mentioned, there is a slight chance it could be a fuel pump relay, but with a 93 vintage car, the fuel pump is likely worn out (brushes are gone).

 

[B10alia]

I have never seen a Spirit with a PDC. I was looking at the underhood relay locations and figured that the "fuel shutdown" mentioned in that link must break the injectors and the coil and the pump relay takes care of the pump. It seems like kind of a boneheaded way to design something, going from one failure point to two, but there must have been a reason for it. If you have a spark tester, simply popping that on the coil to distributor lead can also verify that the ASD is doing its thing.

 

[John Wood]

The extra relay for the fuel pump was most likely added as an additional safety measure and to take some of the load off the ASD relay contacts. Relays occasionally stick when the contacts get burned and weld together (causing the switched component to receive constant power). IIRC, source or switched voltage for the ASD relay is still present when the key is removed, but the switched voltage to the fuel pump relay passes through the ignition switch, making it totally isolated from any 12 volt source when the ignition is off. That is the way it is on my 96 G Voyager, but since my older EEKs were "pre" fuel pump relay I can't confirm that with 100% certainty.

I remember at least one post where an owner went to turn his older EEK car off and it kept running, presumebly because the ASD relay was still closed even though the relay coil was de-energized. Apparently the ASD relay switch contacts had welded closed. If he had a fuel pump relay, the car would have shut off due to fuel starvation.