Faulty Fuel Pumo / Low Fuel Pressure

[1986turbobuick]

Hey guys, my car is falling on its face whenever I give it any real throttle. I checked my fuel pressure and I am getting ~20 psi, which sucks. I have changed the fuel filter, and that didn't change anything. After some reading, I heard some things about checking the fuel pump and making sure that was okay, but nobody ever said how. So could someone explain to me how to check fuel pump voltage, and how to make sure the pump itself isn't bad? Also, if anyone else has any other ideas on what might be wrong, I am all ears.

Thanks.

 

[dynoman]

How old is the pump ? Does it have a hot wire kit ? If not get one . Could be bad connections at bulkhead connector at the top of the tank or bad ground . The problem with just checking voltage is you need to have a load on the circuit , like the fuel pump running . If you don't have a load on it you could read 13v but pulls down to 9v with a load . It also could be bad contacts in the fuel pump relay , with is an easy swap out .
I take it that you have a fuel pressure gauge , do you have an adjustable fuel pressure regulator ?
Give all the mods done to your car in your signature . This will help us diagnose your problem without asking if you have this or that .
I see it says all stock in your sig ....... completely ? If so there are things that need to be addressed other than just low fuel pressure . Lets get the fuel pressure fixed first and DON'T get it into boost until this is fixed . Sam

 

[dynoman]

I see your in Ohio , are you near West Salem Ohio ? There will be a bunch of Buick guys the at Lorenz Racing & Performance tomorrow 9am til. I will be there .

 

[1986turbobuick]

I see your in Ohio , are you near West Salem Ohio ? There will be a bunch of Buick guys the at Lorenz Racing & Performance tomorrow 9am til. I will be there .

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make that meet tomorrow, but I appreciate the invite.

To answer your other question, the car is literally bone stock, only has 24,000 miles. It's been sitting in a barn without getting really used for the past 10-15 years. So I assume the pump is original, and I don't have a hot wire kit or fuel pressure regulator. How hard would it be to check/change the fuel pump relay? Also, what is wrong with dipping into the boost a little?

As for mods, I understand that they improve performance and make the car great, but which ones are actually necessary? I'm not in a position where I can spend a ton of money, but I do have a few bucks lying around.

Nick

 

[turbotroy]

Hi Nick, welcome to the dark side! There's a wealth of information on this site, and most folks here want to help.
The questions your asking have been beat to death. When you ask "why can't I give it a little boost" when dealing with a car that has been dormant is just begging for expensive things to go wrong in a hurry, and then there'll be another trashed TR that will be lost because it's expensive to do them right, and extremely expensive to fix inexperienced mistakes. These cars are 30+ years old.
The search button can be your best friend, and works most of the time.
It's easy to spend 5K real fast on one that has been sitting for a long time, and still not have a reliable ride. These cars are not for the faint of heart or wallet. Until you can have someone check out the car, I would disconnect the wastegate actuator!
I'll get off my soap box now. Cheers!

 

[turbo87adam]

If your car is all original with 24k miles and your fuel pump hasn't been replaced yet? If it were me I would install a new fuel pump no matter what the circumstances are. It's cheap insurance in the long run.

 

[dynoman]

Agreed, fuel pump , new Turbo Tweak chip , check all vacuum lines and get a scanmaster .

 

[GNRick]

Lots of info here. http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/

 

[Gene Van Horn]

Its really simple,boost the car with low fuel pressure you get detination, then blown head gasket or gaskets then the real fun begins. Thats whats wrong with "giving it a little boost".

 

[1986turbobuick]

Okay, so I re-read the post "Info for New Turbo Regal owners." in the General Tech forum, and decided that I am basically going to purchase everything off the list. When I read it the first time (believe it or not I did try to research some of these questions before I posted), I didn't realize how important these modifications were. I guess I figured if the car ran fine before all the aftermarket stuff, then it will run fine again. Never took into account the age and how some of the technology has changed. That being said, I know I will still have questions, so get used to seeing me post in the forum. Sometimes I don't realize things till they are directly addressed to me (working on this).

Anyhow, thanks for all the input. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on how this goes. Got quite the road in front of me.

 

[turbotroy]

More questions are good things, we (collectively) just don't want you to trash a 24K mile original car. These are finicky beasts, but when mine are running right, you couldn't kick that shit eating grin off my face. Of course, with 3 of them, I'm spending my kids inheritance!
Looking forward to your posts!