88 B2 2.9 Fuel Pump issues

Hello!

Recently, I took my b2 offroading.. literally off all roads and into a creek. Water never got up to the doors but it did splash quite a bit of water all around. I made it home with absolutely no issues (20 miles from location) and parked it over night. I woke up and went to run some errands when I came to find it wouldn't start. I tried clutch starting and dry runs, nothing. It does try to turn over though, but it's acting like it's simply out of gas. 

I let the car sit in the hot kansas sun for 2 days with the relays opened to allow them to dry (they were sopping wet)

I got to work on testing things, first I checked the Fuel Pump Relay and all wires read hot when they were supposed to, so I went on to replace the relay. No luck

From there, I checked the wires for damage, nothing but occasional cracks in the tubing. The eec and all other relays are good.

I did notice my inertia switch might have maybe been tripped, its button is slightly raised. So I smacked it with a crowbar and fully tripped it, reset it, no change.

Then I thought I'd listen for the fuel pumps (high pressure on the frame rail and low pressure in the tank) and the high pressure kicks on but not the low pressure. 

This got me onto the idea of a bad connection, either in the plug or ground. I searched for the ground for about half an hour until I lost all my daylight. 

Does anyone have an idea of where the ground is located or what else might be causing this issue? My wire cluster come from the plug in the tank directly into a sleeve and from there it adds more wires until ending its journey in the engine bay. No cords go out, only in.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1512024155684052 This is a video or me getting it wet. I did this for almost an hour, on top of trails and actual creek runs.

SOLVED!! After many issues, it was my starter solenoid. Read the posts below for all the trial and error and troubleshooting. 

Have you checked for 12V at the tank pump?  The ground wire is the black one from the connector, usually it is spliced into the ground wire in the harness.  Check for continuity from the plug to the battery (-) terminal. The resistance reading should be pretty close to 0 ohms.  Also, remove the connector and see if it is corroded.

Good Luck,

>-

Thanks! I only have a test light as of now and as for the ground, the only place any cords come out are to power something smaller near the high pressure pump. I do see new shiny bolts on the gas tank holding it in place.. so it looks like it might have already been replaced recently.

Ill try to grab a volt meter today and see what ohm(s) it reads. I might also try to get a check engine light code thrower (I don't know what its called) rented and hooked up. I certainly want to keep this forum active until I figure this out. No one has a forum they completed or didn't give up on /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

I just found a ground wire from my battery to my relays has a connector clip heavily wrapped in tape. I pulled the tape off and sure enough, the clip is EXTREMELY corroded. I am bypassing this oval shaped connector and Ill let you know if it worked once my battery is fully charged.

The weird thing is all my relays read hot when they were supposed to, so I though a ground up there wouldnt be an issue.. then I thought of my sub woofers, when they hit too hard with a bad ground, they cut out, die. 

I think this could apply to a fuel pump relay, getting it primed doesnt take much power, but actually running the fuel constantly during driving or actually firing up would cause a lot more pull on the relay, causing it to need a more solid ground. 

I do not know if this will fix it, but after 3 days of crawling around on the concrete it's worth a shot.

I also pulled the plug out of the inertia switch and inserted a paper clip to bypass the inertia switch in the event that that was the problem.

Ive done both of these with the battery out, so if it does fire up, I wont be certain which one fixed it.

So a new and interesting development: When I touched my test light (essentially a ground wire) to a wire at the base of the fuel pump relay connector, the fuel pump hummed and primed but wouldnt turn off unless I took the test light off. It only 'primes' when the car is in the on position.

ColtonAndrew said:

So a new and interesting development: When I touched my test light (essentially a ground wire) to a wire at the base of the fuel pump relay connector, the fuel pump hummed and primed but wouldnt turn off unless I took the test light off. It only 'primes' when the car is in the on position.

Click to expand...

That's because you have a bad ground for the fuel pump.  When you put the test light on the ground you are using it as a ground wire.  Chase back the ground wire to find the source of the ground being bad. From your previous post it sounds like the truck has had grounding problems before.  Bad grounds can drive you nuts.  While you are working on grounds, check the battery (-) connections to the engine block and frame.  Disconnect, clean and reconnect.  Check the cables where they go into the lugs.  If there is any corrosion, replace the cable.  You can also cover the connection with silicone grease to help waterproof them.

Good luck,

>-

By the way, I don't see any indication of what year truck this is.  Please go to your profile and add your truck's vitals to your signature file.  It can be a great aid in getting more accurate suggestions for troubleshooting. 

>-

Also, look at this post http://broncozone.com/topic/24177-wrenching-manuals/

Alrighty so I somehow managed to get the fuel pump relay to engage properly by poking the wire with the test light probe and trying to crank it over. That failed to start the car but now it engages without the test light. THEN!!! I had more clicking, I got my wife to help me identify the clicking while I tried to start the car. She found out it was the starter solenoid. After I get that replaced, Ill let you all know what happens. 

Seabronc said:

That's because you have a bad ground for the fuel pump.  When you put the test light on the ground you are using it as a ground wire.  Chase back the ground wire to find the source of the ground being bad. From your previous post it sounds like the truck has had grounding problems before.  Bad grounds can drive you nuts.  While you are working on grounds, check the battery (-) connections to the engine block and frame.  Disconnect, clean and reconnect.  Check the cables where they go into the lugs.  If there is any corrosion, replace the cable.  You can also cover the connection with silicone grease to help waterproof them.

Good luck,

>-

Click to expand...

Great reply! Ill be sure to trace the wire when its bright in the morning!

Seabronc said:

By the way, I don't see any indication of what year truck this is.  Please go to your profile and add your truck's vitals to your signature file.  It can be a great aid in getting more accurate suggestions for troubleshooting. 

>-

Click to expand...

Oh I must have cut it out on accident in the original post. Its the 88 b2 2.9

ColtonAndrew said:

Oh I must have cut it out on accident in the original post. Its the 88 b2 2.9

Click to expand...

Add it to your signature file for future posts. Click on your icon and when it goes to yor profile yo will find a button in the top right of the page that will get you to your signature file.

>-

So I put in a new off the shelf starter solenoid and it wont even click or try to turn over now /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

If the old one worked, put it back in, a lot of the non-OEM parts from China are junk.  People often report having to put in up to 3 so called replacement parts from places like AutoZone to get a good working one.  Also, I'm adding a couple of wiring diagrams for fuel pump control.  Keep in mind they are not from a BII but a FSB.  However, in my experience, Ford does not reinvent the wheel for every truck.  They use the same wiring for most vehicles.

Your fuel pump relay ground is EEC controlled.

Make sure the EEC power relay is supplying power to the EEC.

I wsa my starter solenoid in the end! I still dont know what was going on with the fuel relay and probing the wire to get it going, but that fixed the fuel pump issues. I reconnected the inertia switch earlier today (before touching the fuel relay wire and developing the starter solenoid problem) and jumped my car to get it fired up. It accelerates without hesitation, brakes hard, turns hard without fuel starve, idle is at 900rpm and turns on unassisted.

Thank you SeaBronc for all the help /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Glad you got it going. I still believe you may have grounding problems, maybe redoing the connector with the ground wires fixed it.  I would still go through the grounds and clean connections.

Good luck,

>-

I do too, especially with the way it was behaving. If the issue arises again, Ill update this forum