Starts with spraying starting fluid into the carburetor, but does not stay started for long

ITSME2

MEMBER
2006 SATURN VUE
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
140,000 MILES

My buddy bought a wrecked the car listed above. It starts with spraying starting fluid into the carburetor, but does not stay started for long until it shuts off. He is tearing this thing apart looking for the fuel pump reset switch. Everything I have looked up is telling me there is not a such switch. If there is, could you please help in locating it? If there is not one, then what are the other options to look into for this problem?

There is nothing wrong with the engine as far as we can tell. Looks good, and sounds good while it is running.

Please help before this thing is sitting on blocks from his tearing everything off it. Lol.

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,871 POSTS

Fuel pump inertia switches are a Ford thing.

You need signal pulses from the crankshaft position sensor and/or camshaft position sensor to tell the engine computer when to fire the injectors, when to fire an ignition coil, and when to turn on the fuel pump. In addition, the fuel pump should run for one second when the ignition switch is turned on. Listen for its hum or check the fuel pressure to see if the pump runs for that one second.

You can also read the diagnostic fault codes although codes do not always set for the cam and crank sensor right away. The fact there may be no codes does not mean those circuits are working. If you never hear the fuel pump run, we will have to diagnose that circuit.