Situation:
Went wheelin last night and hit a deep rut with water pretty hard. wasn't that deep (maybe to the top of the tire), but I was riding left side high in the rut so the right went deeper than the left.
Powered through the rut and came out and the truck just died, No chugging or coughing, no nothing. I was in the rut for maybe 4 seconds.
So I thought I might have sprayed a little water on the plugs or in the back on the distributor. So I waited around for a few minutes for things to drain and dry out..but had no luck. So i had to be towed (by a jeep
) to high ground. This is where I started trouble shooting.
Note** The engine cranks strong but will not turn over.
The plugs are getting plenty of fire. The plug wires were dry. took the plugs out. A little carbon build-up but they were dry. turned the engine over with a plug wire off and saw the spark, (and felt it). tried it again. no luck
So, then I moved to the fuses. all of which were in tact and dry. None blown. Still not starting.
So then i thought that maybe I tripped the inertia switch when i hit the bottom of the rut killing the fuel pump. So I tried to push the reset button but the button did not "pop" which made my think the switch might be bad. So I took the switch off and bypassed it with a paper-clip. Still no luck. I also put my tester light on the switch and it was fine.
So by now I'm pretty sure its not the electronics, it's not an issue with anything firing, because the truck is firing just fine and strong and it is a fuel issue. I sprayed a little carb cleaner into the throttle body and it turned over and quickly died. So after eliminating all the before mentioned and coupling that witht the fact that it did start when I added the carb cleaner. I determined that it's fuel related. so i started testing all fuses and connections that were fuel related and they were all fine. I checked all the way back to the fual pump relay. Which after about an hour on the phone with the dealership I still couldnt determine it's whereabouts. I know it's location. i just don't know which one is for the fuel pump. So I decided to take the cargo floor up and investigate the fuel pump. when I uncovered the fuel pump there was alot of water and mud sittign on top of the fuel pump. First of all I don't know how to take that out. So i didn't mess with it but it does look very old and worn.
So my basic idea, through process of elimination is that it is either the fuel pump, or the fuel pump relay.
Also when I turn the key i cannot hear the fuel pump come on. I think the impact may have jarred loose the pump itself and maybe the lower portion of the pump is floating around in the tank???!!! I made it out of the rut due to the fuel left in the line, but as soon as that ran out so did I.
Let me know if this sounds off base, and also I have these questions.
#1 How do you get the fuel pump out?
#2 which one is the fuel pump relay?
#3 Could it really be something more simple that I'm missing?
This proces took about 4 hours and I worked till the sun came up
I am going back in for the truck tonight and have a line in on a fuel pump. So I'll be waiting around the house for the next few hours for your advice then I'll leave here around 9pm eastern standard time. It takes around an hour to get there.
Thanks for all of your help.
