Bad Fuel Pump Relay?

[awd laser]

I have a 92 laser awd turbo all stock. The car will not start now I don't know why, but when I put the key to the on position, boost needle is at the bottom and won't move to the normal starting position which is I believe 0, also a few times the rpm needle would jump too. But whats concerning me is a weird clicking noise coming from under the hood right by the fire wall on the driver side. We thought it was a fuse in the relay box but it was coming from under there but seems to be right inside the fire wall. But also the fuel pump relay isn't clicking right too, it makes weird random clicking noises when I try to start it, but when i take out the key, it doesnt make the final click that your suppose to hear when you turn off the car. Any clues? really need help!

[Wolf0573]

When you turn the key to the on position, does your check engine light come for a few seconds? This ensures that your ecu is booting up. Have you checked your grounds?

[awd laser]

Yes and it stays lit up, but no i have not i will check the grounds though. But also there are two red and black prongs that are wired to eachother that is connected into the fuel pump relay. I've never seen something like this and idk why the previous owner would put the prongs into the fuel pump relay, any idea why?

[Wolf0573]

I'm not sure what you mean by "prongs." Is the fuel pump hot wired? Have you checked the voltage at the relay? Maybe the contacts are going bad. Being that there is other clicking going on, it seems like there is an underlying issue.

[awd laser]

I will take a picture of it when i get home. But after i looked it up, i just found out that there's a fuel pump relay behind the stereo, and one under the hood so i will take a look at both and grounds and report back.

[Wolf0573]

The relay behind the stereo is the mpi relay. If it wasn't functioning, The ecu would not boot up. I probably should have asked this first, haha... Have you checked for the necessities? Compression, spark, and fuel? Are you getting any of the three?

[awd laser]

compression is good, brand new plugs and wires. But the battery just died last night so im charging it right now. Also grounds are good and none of the caps inside the ecu are leaking so i'll probably try to replace the mpi relay and see if anything changes. Any other suggestions on what to check?

[cmspaz]

New plugs and wires don't mean you have spark. Physically check.

[Halon]

relays chattering in the engine bay is a possible sign of ecu capacitors leaking and f-ing up your ECU. Do you have anyone that you can swap out your ECU with to see if that corrects the issue?

If that proves to not be the problem, next step I'd take is verifying you're receiving fuel and spark. If one of those ends up being absent, then you can start working your way back.

[awd laser]

Yeah we took out the plugs and checked and they were sparking, and i will be stopping by my uncles afterschool to grab his ecu and a different battery. I will report back on what happens.

[awd laser]

Alright we switched the ecu and the car starts now, its running okay now but the car isn't running perfectly, i took it for a drive and the car died on me after i got around the block. Boost gauge is dead now andthere is no check engine light but could it be bad o2 sensors? At idle the rpms go up then down then up and down etc etc...

[badinblack]

idle surge most of the time one of three things bis screw, intake leak or most common is the maf. At least that is my experience.

[awd laser]

i believe so, because the car exhaust is starting to smell like its burning rich, and when i get up to stop lights the rpms would dip and almost die. Also when i step on the gas pedal lightly just to keep up with speed the car jerks and makes a clunking noise until i press the pedal down more to give it more gas. Any ideas?