How To Tell If Your Car’s Fuel Pump Is Going Out

How do you know what is wrong with your car if the engine will not start right away after the motor has been turned off?

The first thoughts might be battery, starter, or alternator. The starter might be suspected as not spinning the engine fast enough to get it running. Remember movies of old cars that had the hand crank in the front that had to be turned to get the motor running? That’s what the electric starter does on a modern automobile.

The next suspect will probably be the battery that sends the charge to the starter in order for it to spin the flywheel attached to the crankshaft of the engine. If the battery does not have enough cranking power, it will not send enough energy to the starter to spin it fast enough to start the motor.

If the battery is found to be sound, the next culprit to be suspected is the alternator. If the alternator is not generating enough current when the car is running, then the battery could be draining and losing power as you drive and that could drop the battery power low enough that it will not start the engine.

Trouble Shooting The Engine Starting Problem

When your car’s engine does not start right away, you need to break down the behavior of the car. How fast was the engine spinning and did it sound like it was going to start normally? Was the engine spinning fast and then started spinning slower and then slowly spun to a stop? Was there a loud shrieking sound when the ignition key was turned or a clicking sound?

If there was a loud clicking sound, it could be the solenoid that is either physically attached directly to the starter or by a cable that runs down to the starter. The solenoid is a switch that allows the power to flow to the starter to turn it on and off.

A loud clicking indicated that something is wrong with the solenoid and power is not flowing to the starter. A loud shriek could mean that there is a problem with the starter itself. If the battery, starter and alternator seem to be operating properly, then the problem could be something else, the fuel pump.

Symptoms Of A Failing Fuel Pump

Most modern vehicles have electric fuel pumps as older mechanical pumps from when most cars had carburetors have given way to electric pumps and fuel injection. Often times fuel pumps will fail in stages. Your car’s engine may take longer to start but seem to run fine after the engine is running.

Sometimes there may be a hesitation or what seems like a miss or stumble. What could be happening is a loss of fuel pressure from the fuel pump. There is enough pressure to eventually start the engine, but it is not delivering enough to start it immediately or keep it running at full efficiency. Sometimes the engine will sputter as it is running.

A total fuel pump failure will not be hard to miss as no fuel will reach your engine and it will not start. Sometimes a fuel pump will stop working as the vehicle is running down the highway and the engine will die and this could be a dangerous situation as you could be in the middle of high-speed traffic.

In most cases, modern fuel pumps are not items that fail often and it could be well over 100,000 miles before an initial failure. Fuel pump replacement can be expensive as many automobiles have in-tank mounted fuel pumps and this requires the removal of the gas tank in order to replace the pump. It is not uncommon for an in-gas tank fuel pump replacement to cost over $1,000.

If you notice signs of a failing fuel pump, don’t roll the dice because you could be stranded anywhere when it finally fails completely. Take your car in to get it checked out before it places you in a bad spot.