Ran out of gas, now car wont start

[240dreams]

It's been a long time since I've posted here but I figured why not. First of all I have a S1 RB25DET in a 89 hatch. I was tinkering with it the other day then suddenly, it started to stumble and die. My gas light was on and the gas level was so low that it got stuck on the plastic cover. So I automatically assumed that I ran out of gas. No big deal.I let it sit for a few days before trying to start it again. Now today, I filled maybe 2.5 gallons of gas into the car. As I went to start it, it didn't start. I tried numerous times.Things I know:- I have spark- The fuel pump primes on "key on"- After cranking, I checked plugs 1 and 2 and they were dry. No fuel on them. I was expecting them to be wet and fouled from all of the starting attempts- The car ran perfectly before it died. I was setting timing and idle and it drove great at that time.- I pulled the fuel pump out and the sock looked kinda dirty. I also noticed some rust flakes/dirt in the tank.- The fuel pump and filter are brand new. Is it possible that the fuel pump sock or filter is clogged because I ran the gas so low causing it to pick up dirt at the bottom of the tank?

That's about all that I can think of right now. As I find out more information, I'll notify you guys. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Tictakman]

are u getting fuel to the fuel rail? did u swap the fuel lines from the tank to the rail and from the rail to the filter? u said u assumed u ran out of gas....did u?

Zak

[240dreams]

I did not swap fuel lines at all. I believe that I ran out of gas. The car stumbled like it was lacking fuel and I was on E.At this point I'm almost definite that I'm not getting sufficient fuel/fuel pressure. I don't smell fuel at all during cranking. I'll have to check my fuel pressure before confirming anything.

[Joe]

- The fuel pump and filter are brand new. Is it possible that the fuel pump sock or filter is clogged because I ran the gas so low causing it to pick up dirt at the bottom of the tank?

that does happen but its pretty rare

heres what i would do.

first, replace the fuel filter. they cost 10$ and it might save you a ton of troubleshooting bull****

next, remove the feed line at the rail, put it in a bottle (2l soda bottle, something clear, etc) and have someone turn the key to "run"

see if gas is filling it. just because the pump turns on, dosent mean its moving fuel.

[240dreams]

I'll try the bottle method tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.

[Darius]

I would think the fuel pump would pressurize the system to the point where it would push air entrainment through the injectors. In most cars, if you run out of gas you just add gas to the tank and the thing starts up after the fuel pump primes the line again. It sounds like there's a different issue with your motor other than just a fuel deficiency.

[Joe]

It sounds like there's a different issue with your motor other than just a fuel deficiency.

bingo.

air dosent stay in fuel lines long.

[240dreams]

Well like I said, the car ran great and suddenly this just happened. It idled great and timing was dead on. I was in the car and it just stumbled to it's death. I really have no idea why other than the fact that I ran out of gas. I do know that I'm having issues with fuel and starting. On a side note, I may have overheated the car. I didn't have fans on at the moment. I didn't drive it, it was just idling. Could overheating cause the car not to start?
Modified by 240dreams at 12:22 AM 5/28/2006

[Tictakman]

check for water in ur oil if ur headgasket blew...might want to check compression too. u can add fuel to each cylinder and turn it over. that will tell u if its getting fuel to the cylinders. are ur injectors firing?

[240dreams]

Found the problem!First I checked to see if I had fuel coming out of the feed and return lines off of the rail using the bottle and prime method. It turned out that I did have fuel going to the rail. But I swore that I wasn't getting fuel to the engine. So I disconnected the CAS to disable ignition and tried to start the car. I did this to see if my pugs would get soaked in fuel or not. Sure enough, there were dry. So right then and there I knew my problem was in the injectors. I originally bought the car as an unfinished project and I had to redo the wiring because I wasn't comfortable with crimp connections that the original owner used. I double checked my injector circuit and I found that there was an open in the injector power source (grey wire) where the original owner used a splice crimp thingy. So I closed the connection and bam she fired. So I guess I did run out of gas after all. Thanks for those who helped.

[Tictakman]

ya....use some solder on ur connnections so u dont have to worry.