fuel pump shuts off at the worst times

clintonranger · Sep 21, 2017

94 with 98k miles, has a small problem. it shuts off going done the road, sitting in the parking lot and sometimes driving just 200 yards or 1 1/2 miles down the road. when it shuts off I turn everything off so I can here the fuel pump run when I turn the key on. when it shuts down I have to let it sit 5 to 20 mins. before the fuel pump comes back on. that is with out moving or touching anything, just sitting there. now it may go 1 or 2 days/45 to 250 miles before it does it again. Changed the relays, fuel filter, cleaned out tank, so when it shuts off the fuel pump will not come back on until it is ready. hard to drive it like that don't know when it will leave me on side of rd. I bypassed the shut off switch and it still does it. any suggestions as to what it might be would be helpful. thanks new member.

chewy012 · Sep 21, 2017

clintonranger said:
94 with 98k miles, has a small problem. it shuts off going done the road, sitting in the parking lot and sometimes driving just 200 yards or 1 1/2 miles down the road. when it shuts off I turn everything off so I can here the fuel pump run when I turn the key on. when it shuts down I have to let it sit 5 to 20 mins. before the fuel pump comes back on. that is with out moving or touching anything, just sitting there. now it may go 1 or 2 days/45 to 250 miles before it does it again. Changed the relays, fuel filter, cleaned out tank, so when it shuts off the fuel pump will not come back on until it is ready. hard to drive it like that don't know when it will leave me on side of rd. I bypassed the shut off switch and it still does it. any suggestions as to what it might be would be helpful. thanks new member.

Does it die after letting off the throttle, coasting in gear at speed? That's when my intermittent shut off would happen. A new relay was my fix, but sounds like you tried that. Hopefully it's not something painstaking like tracking down a loose ground or something.

When it dies, does it sit there and try to fight to stay alive, or does it just die out?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

BlackBII · Sep 21, 2017

Did you replace the pump itself?

I replaced the fuel pump in my Ranger with an Airtex/Wells unit. It had issues similar to this. It would work for a while, and then die. It did seem to work again after an hour or so. My guess is that the pump was overheating.

I replaced it with a Bosch pump and it's been working great ever since.

clintonranger · Sep 21, 2017

I would start it wait about 15 sec. to 90 sec. just shut down no sputtering, starving for gas, just shut off. could be doing 15 mph or 60 mph straight, smooth, has never shut off on any rough rds. or bumps,dips or any other rough rideing area. the next thing I was changing was the fuel pump itself.

RonD · Sep 21, 2017

Welcome to TRS

Is the CEL on, check engine light?

It should come on if fuel pump power is being cut by electrical fault

If no CEL then problem is in the fuel pump motor itself, or the wire from "cutoff switch"(inertia switch) to fuel pump connector on top of the gas tank.
There is also a Ground wire for the pump, usually in passenger footwell, joins with Inertia switch power wire going back to the gas tank

Electric motors can just shut off, and yes in-tank electric motors often have thermal shut off that self resets when it cools down

clintonranger · Oct 18, 2017

Guy's thanks for all of the great suggestions. It ended up being the clips that the fuel pump relay plugs into being really loose. sending eratic signals to the pump. It has been running for the last two weeks with no problem. again fellows THANKS!!

fuel pump shuts off at the worst times

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