frankiecutz

Alright so I'm having a real funky issue with my EVO 8 right now. So for the past 3 months it has sporadically left me stranded at various locations because it doesn't start. So far it's left me stranded 4 times.

The first time it left me the symptoms the car was having is that it wasn't turning over. It was cranking and wanting to start but it just wouldn't. I got it towed home, swapped the plugs and it started right up. I thought that was the end of it and I had solved my problem.

Not so much...the EVO left me stranded at the gas station a few weeks later. Same symptoms, car would crank but wasn't turning over. Once again I got it towed home and decided I was going to mess with it in the morning since it was so late. Next morning I get in my car and it starts right up. At this point I was super confused but was like oh well it starts.

For ****s and giggles I swapped my starter because my thought process was that the starter wasn't giving enough umph to get the flywheel going. After swapping that out the car started much smoother and that lasted me a good while.

At this point I thought I was good and wouldn't have any issues. Well as you can guess, I did or else I wouldn't be on here. For the 3rd time my car left me stranded with the exact same symptoms as before. Cranking perfectly fine but just won't turn over. I was running a little low on gas so once I got the car towed back home I decided to put a some gas in it. I've got a gallon gas can that I filled up the EVO with. Long and behold the damn car started right up. After I drove back to the gas station I filled her back up and had no issues for a few weeks.

Well just this weekend the car left me stranded again. Same symptoms as before. Because luck would have it, I was actually at AutoZone picking up some light bulbs so as I was messing with it one of the guys came out because he liked the car. We started talking and he tried helping me out. He said the car sounded "fuel starved". It made sense to me because everything else is working fine. So I picked up a 2 gallon tank at AutoZone and walked to the gas station to fill it up. Now mind you the gas tank read 1/2 full and I had barely driven around 100 miles on the current tank. Well once I got the car towed back home I filled her up with the 2 gallons I just got and sure enough.....it fired right up.

At this point I decided to check my fuel pressure and it checked out good at approximately 36psi. Then I started thinking maybe my fuel pump was the issue. I don't hear it priming when I go to the start position so I figured maybe it was the root cause. Anyway I just swapped it out today and the fuel pressure reads the same. To top it off I still don't hear it prime when in the start position. Obviously the car hasn't left me stranded yet but I'm not 100% sure I've corrected my issue.

Does anybody have some thoughts behind this?

On a side note.....does anybody know what tank gets drained first? I ask because the tank where the fuel pump is located was full and but my gauge indicates I have 3/4 tank left. I'm going to assume they don't drain together and one side goes dry before the other.

Anyway sorry for the long post but I felt all this information needed to be put out in order for someone with know how to make a good recommendation.

Frankie

RightSaid fred

The fuel pump doesn't prime in the on position.
It's not a Honda.

It only starts up when the key gets to the start position and will only continue running with pulses from the cam / crank sensors.


Maybe it's flooding?
You'll know when you take a look at the plugs.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

If the car sits stationary, the passenger side will go dry first.


Is the car stock? Modded? Tuned (speed density or MAF?)? Mod list if modded.

slocho

One tip i would give meanwhile is to carry a can of brake cleaner. When it wont start, spray a fair amount into the intake via a vacuum port, if its not getting fuel, the brake cleaner will burn and the engine will run for a bit. Since the issue is far between this could eliminate fuel supply as a cause.

​​​​​​​this worked on my DD i just bought. Was driving me crazy for a few days i was checking this and that. I noticed the fuel gauge read just above the E so i tried the brake cleaner and it fired right up. Put a gallon of fuel and runs like a champ.

frankiecutz

Yeah I wasn't 100% sure if it did or not. Thanks for verifying that for me. I haven't taken another look at the plugs since I swapped them out last time, but even then they didn't look wet. I'll double check them though.



The car isn't stock. Minimally modded w/ EVO 9 turbo, RC 1000 injectors, UICP, LICP, still have MAF, 255lph fuel pump, and tuned.



Yeah what's weird is that my fuel gauge reads funky as well. When I fill up closer to the E I'd expect it to be close to being empty however when I fill up I'm only putting in somewhere between 7-10 gallons. It's a 14 gallon tank so I'm thinking my float might be messed up. However I don't know how that would effect the car starting if there was fuel in it.


I guess the only way I'll try the brake cleaner method is if it dies on me again. What's interesting is that it's not like it's running out of gas because when I drive to my destination it's not sputtering or running on fumes. It only happens once I shut the car down and try to start back up. But then like you said, I put some gas in it and it fires right up.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

Next time it doesn't start, try pedaling it a bit. If it helps it start, my guess is a bit of a hot start issue in the tune..

kikiturbo

sounds like the venturi on the pump housing is not working and is not pulling fuel from the passenger side..

frankiecutz

I pedal it all the time when it does this to me. It never helps it start. It sounds like it wants to but no dice.

Like I said before I think gas is coming from the passenger side because when I swapped my fuel pump the driver side tank was full even though I knew I had only about 3/4 of a tank. I'm assuming the passenger side tank was not full. In fact just today I filled up again to start from scratch and it filled up about 4 gallons.

So I'm starting to do some more research on the fuel sending unit. At this point I'm not really sure what's the issue so I'm looking at a lot of options.

kikiturbo

there are 2 sending units, one in each side and they are connected in series, so any one of them could be giving you problems..

frankiecutz

What exactly does the fuel sending unit do and how would that effect my car??


Other than the obvious part that it sends fuel, how does the circuit work?


Based on what I saw when I swapped the fuel pump, I'm assuming that the driver side tank is periodically filled with fuel from the passenger until the passenger side is drained which at that point fuel is then being used from the driver side tank. Of note I always noticed my gauge will say it's empty when in fact when I fill the car up I only fill up with about 7-10 gallons.


I know the car is getting gas from somewhere because it runs, but at one point does it stop and is it the sending unit (if so which one) that is causing the problem.

frankiecutz

It happened today again. So I was driving down the road and suddenly I felt the car stall out and I was trying to prevent it from stalling out but it did anyway. Tried cranking it and nothing. Was stuck pushing the car down the street. Luckily someone came and helped me out. Then they were nice enough to take me to the gas station to fill up the 1 gallon tank I already had prepped. So after putting more gas into the car it started back up after a few minutes trying.

So what happened? Well first the gas gauge was reading half a tank. Seemed legit to me because I usually get around 140 gallons before it's empty. I always reset my trip counter to keep track of how far I drove and it was at around 70 miles.

My first thought is that something is up with the fuel sending unit. I'm not sure how the system works but I was assuming that one of the tanks was empty and the sending unit is not indicating that it is so it's not sending fuel over hence there is no fuel to start the car.

Well I got home and opened both tanks to see the fuel levels. To my surprise both tanks had about 4 inches of gas in them. I don't know how that equates to gallons but the point is both had fuel in them.

I then decided to check the resistance of both fuel sending units. I've found various values on what the resistance should be but my numbers are close to them. With that said I'm not to sure if they fuel level indicators are 100%.

Then to make things worse after I re-installed everything I think I messed something up because now the fuel gauge reads empty. I'm sure I messed something up during re-install so I'm going to re-check everything tomorrow.

Now with that said I'm still stumped on what the problem is. I'm tempted to just buy a new fuel sending unit and fuel tank assist pump. I hate to spend money without knowing exactly what's wrong though.

Can anyone give me some insight? I know I can't be the first person who's EVO has done this to them.