Good afternoon everyone,

My 1997 J30t (about 171,000 miles) cranks but will not start. There were no prior symptoms that I noticed, and the car was in a garage (and did not get wet). I filled the tank with Shell gasoline about 5 miles previously to putting the car into the garage for a couple of days. I found some possible causes on-line: "No fuel because of a dead fuel pump, bad fuel pump relay, blown fuel pump fuse, plugged fuel filter or line, or failed PCM injector driver circuit or injector power supply relay. Or, the fuel tank might be empty (don’t believe what the gauge is telling you), or the fuel tank might contain contaminated fuel (water or too much alcohol) or the wrong type of fuel (whoops, somebody put in diesel instead of gasoline)." I am thinking a bad fuel pump or fuel pump fuse might be the culprit. The fuel pump was changed at 60,000 miles, which would have been roughly ten years ago. Any ideas of things to look for?

Chris

Take out the back carpet wall of the trunk and unplug the antenna. This will help see and hear the fuel pump and unplugging the antenna keeps it from turning on and making noise. Have some turn the car to ON and listen for the pump. If it primes, try checking the ECU for codes.

From there depending on what you find, I can help you further.

You can also pull a couple spark plugs, if you are getting fuel they will be wet. I would also suggest having the battery load tested, i have had them fail and still have enough juice to crank the motor but not fire.

As of now the symptom has not returned. However, IIRC the battery is now four years old. Should I replace it just on that basis?

not just on that basis....but get it load-tested, figuring how much power it has left...
and depends on climate where you live....and how necessary the car is to you....
but I would put it on my list to save for....

I live in North Carolina near the ocean. Some extra salt may be in the air, but the temperatures rarely fall below about 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Unfortunately this is not an unusual problem with the J30T. If you have the glovebox driver's manual you will find a specific warning that if you are going to park the car and not drive it for 4 or 5 days, disconnect the battery! The J30T has so many anti theft and self monitoring devices that it eats battery capacity. I bought a small SEARS 5 amp trickle charger, added extra length of "zip corp" to the battery connector just after the connections plug and connected the charger to the battery terminal by running the extended cable through the front grill. This is a self tapering charger so no overcharge worries. Connecting the charger through the cigarette lighter as suggested in the charger literature is a fail, the lighter is isolated when the car is shutdown and will only keep your stereo settings intact, the car still will not start after 5 days.

Thanks; I did not realize that the drain was so severe. I do have the driver's manual and also the shop manual.

No problem! Glad to help you save cash by having "expert mechanics" survey your problem at your expense. One of the main contributors to the large drain is a quirk in the factory Stereo / CD player installation. There seems to be a current leak path in many of these units, I had mine changed under warranty.

I have never heard of a warning about if you park the J for extended time that you need to leave it on a charger. You most likely have a bad radio or another system is staying on. You can check for drain by doing a test with a volt meter.

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain

I have a full aftermarket sound system, added lights, added electric fans etc and my battery does not drain. I have a YellowTop Optima and after a month, I can still crank the car up.

The original posting concerns a 1997 J30T, and I own one! The glove box driver's manual specifically states that for this model 1997 J30T that you should disconnect the battery if you will not drive it for 4 or more days! Do you neeed a specific page reference?

In my case the battery had not run down. It was cranking, but it was not firing.