My uncles 88 240dl broke down driving back from utah - the water pump was going bad and it was ran untill the housing blew up and everything inside of it disintegrated. After cleaning up the mess and replacing the water pump, the car will not start - has spark but not getting any fuel. I check the fuel pump relay(it was replaced about a month ago) and both coils are operating properly. I replaced the fuel pump, and then discovered that the wire feeding power to the pump had no voltage, there are no blown fuses either.

I'm at a total loss of what to check next and the car is sitting about 2 hours out of town. What else would keep the fuel pump from receiving power? is there something on the front of the engine near the water pump that could have been damaged that would prevent the fuel system from operating properly?

 

Was it overheated? Was there damage to the timing belt or tensioner?

 

I would see if the large red wire at the fuel pump relay has power ... it should be hot all the time. Also inspect the 25A blade fuse by the coil.

 

yes it was overheated... he kept running it while it was leaking massive amounts of water and kept refilling it untill it broke. He said all the warning lights came on when it happened, engine got really noisy and he shut it off and got a tow truck after that. I didnt see any obvious damage to the timing belt or tensioner, it still has plenty of compression.

I'm heading up there again today to check things out, if there is power at that wire to the relay would that indicate a broke wire somewhere between the relay and the fuel pump? if there is no power to the relay where would I go from there? the fuses I checked were under the dash near the drivers side door of the round type... just want to double check, you mean a fuse by the ignition coil?

thanks for all the help guys!

 

yes, the fuse by the ignition coil ... it sits between the battery and the fuel pump relay.

 

Personally I think you're wasting your time. Even if it does run again, it's had it.

Regards, Andrew.

 

why do you say that? not very helpful.. have no idea what the problem is yet, all I know is the fuel pump isnt getting any power. I went back up and tested for power at the relay and it was getting none, the 25a blade fuse was intact. I did notice a wire that was unplugged that I dont remember being lose, the end on it was kind of funky shaped - look like 2 pins would plug into it. I wasnt able to take a picture unfortunately but it looked like it would plug into a sensor or sending unit of somekind but I couldnt locate anything even close for it to plug into. it came out of the harness above the motor on the firewall maybe halfway to the drivers side and is maybe 12-16" long. may be irrelevant but i remember setting the box for the water pump and the timing belt cover near that wire when I was replacing the waterpump.