I'm new to this site. My handle is dick91134 and I am the proud owner of a cherry, 1987 Olds Cutlass Ciera International with 85,000 original miles. I need help in locating the fuel pump in-line fuse. Occasionally, my engine (3.8 V6) won't start unless I give it a shot of starter fluid. I have replaced the MAF sensor, fuel filter, starter, battery, and air filter. Twice it stalled while driving. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Email is: dick91134@aol.com PS. I have also installed a new fuel pressure regulator. The car has been running good for the last couple of weeks. Hopefully it will continue to. Thanks for the help. Now if I could just upload a couple of pictures. I tried to, but failed.
Dick

 

Welcome, sorry that I can't help you with your starting issue.

 

Thanks anyway. I appreciate your reply.
dick91134

 

Welcome to our site! God, I love Tucson. Matter of fact I love anywhere in Arizona, lol. One day I'll live out there..... Hopefully someone will chime in who can help you with your question.

 

The fuel pump fuse is located in the fuse box next to the fuel pump relay.... It doesn't sound like the fuse should be the issue since once you use starter fluid the vehicle continues to run.... since the pump uses a fuse and not a circuit breaker, the fuse is either good or bad, for the most part, there is no occasional functionability of a fuse.... I would check the fuel relay for correct operation if you think it is an electrical issue.... Since several relays in the fuse box are the same, you could simply swap out two of the relays just for testing purposes....... I would then check the fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail....

 

Welcome to CO! Sounds like a nice car, post some pics when you get a chance. Hope you get the answer to the problem.

 

X2 on the fuel pump regulator.
Good luck and welcome.

 

you relly need to know if in fact you dont have fuel pressure when it stalls or wont start,you may be losing injector signal.crank position sensor was a problem on the 3800.what engine do you have?jc

 

Thank you all for your posts concerning my 1987 Olds. The problem hasn't come up for the last few weeks. I really appreciate the schematic I received in the e-mail. I will keep you posted if and when the quirk reappears. Thanks again.
Dick

 

Sorry for the delay in my responses concerning my Cutlass Ciera. I found the fuel pump relay, replaced it and that seems to have solved the problem. Since then I have replaced the a/c compresser, accumulator, and I have a new expansion valve. My problem now is: do I put the new expansion valve in before the system is purged, or after, and before the system is vacated? My old compresser froze up and I decided to update to R134. Any help would be appreciated. The car has 85,400 original miles and is in excellent condition otherwise. Will try to post some pictures. Thanks.
Dick in Tucson
PS: I have uploaded 11 pictures of my car.

 

If you replaced the compressor and accumulator then does this mean the system currently has no refrigerant in it? Or did you replace those components, recharge it, and now you need to replace the expansion valve because it is clogged with debris?

Either way, the refrigerant needs to be removed from the system in order to replace the expansion valve. I would highly recommend that the system be thoroughly flushed after opening it to remove any particles that may be circulating around after the compressor failure - this may be why you now need to replace the expansion valve. If that is the case, then the accumulator needs to be replaced (again) as it may have junk in it and it can't be flushed.

I had a similar thing happen to the wife's Cougar XR7 right after we moved to Phoenix. I took every connection apart, flushed all the lines and components, and installed new R134A compatible o-rings on all the connections -I didn't want to work on that AC ever again!