[iExcel]

This morning, after dropping off my daughter at school, which is about 1 mile away from home, I decided to drive back home to change out the old power steering fluid for my chevy malibu 2003.

What I did was that I sucked as much old fluid as possible from the reservoir and then added new fluid to the correct level. I started the engine and make a few full left and right turns. I shut down the engine and went in to wash my hands before going to work.

Just a few minutes later, as I attempted to turn on the engine, it refused to start. The cranking seemed fine but the engine simply didn't want to start.

I thought it might be some PS fluid spills on the belt, so I loosened the belt and gave it a clean wipe. No luck. The engine still refused to start.

I also tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery, hoping that would kinda reset the computer. But that didn't help, either.

I did more troubleshooting steps:

1. depressed the schrader valve on the fuel rail and no fuel came out although there was fuel smell;
2. checked the ignition module or an old spark plug and it sparked properly;
3. checked the relays by swapping good one with the one that controls fuel system and that didn't help;
4. turned the key to ON without starting it and heard NO sound from the fuel pump.

Maybe some sensors have gone wrong? Or, the fuel pump decided to retire after 75, 000 miles of service? Any advice will be highly appreciated. Thank!

 

[DrivenDaily]

Did you check the safing relay/switch? I don't know where it is on your car but most often they're in the trunk or engine bay. It's designed to shut off the fuel pump if there's enough of a jolt to cause a ball to move away from a magnet at the bottom of a cone. To reset, just push down firmly until it clicks.

That's probably not the issue though. Check your fuel pump fuse and check to see that you're getting BAT voltage to the relay and one side of the coil (with ignition @ crank). If the coil isn't told to close the points (no juice to coil), or if there isn't any juice to the common side of the contacts, then you've found the issue. Next you need to trace that circuit to find the cause. The coil will get juice for about 1/2 second or so when the key is turned on but not cranked.

If you're fair with electrical stuff you can try to hotwire the relay to make the pump turn on manually and then try starting the car. Just jump across the Com and NO contacts inside the fuse panel.

Another thing could be a vacuum hose that you may have knocked off the fuel pressure regulator, or a wire that was near where you were working.

I used to have a '98 Cavalier. It had a crank sensor down under. If it got loose the car wouldn't start for hours. When I finally got a new one and went to replace it, I discovered that it was merely loose, but for all the effort I decided to just replace it anyway. No more problem. You may have inadvertently caused something similar. Recheck your work area(s) and look for loose or disconnected stuff.

Hope ya get it fixed soon!

 

[heartbeat]

sorry, i can't help you in the same boat. Went to the store, came out wouldn't start had to it tow home. Did some troubleshooting, check fuse and relays ok. check fuel pump working,but no spark i think its mod under coil pack. WISH YOU THE BEST ON YOUR PROBLEM

 

[heartbeat]

Hey iExcel have you check out the anti-thief. It seems that at any time it will think it was been stolen,that what was wrong the my car. It will roll over but wont start.