help! my van is working perfectly! fuel pump? issue

[zosteria]

I have a 1984 toyota van, it is my 4th, I bought it about 5 years ago and it supposedly needed a new fuel pump, I can't remember whether or not I put one in but it had another thing it was doing where it would send a little spurt of gas (I think it was the cold injector working but then no more gas, I monkeyed with it trying over and over again to start it and it would run half a second and die and then eventually it just ran. I never really knew what was wrong so it ran for 5 years or so and then a few days ago i went to another nearby town and when I stopped it it wouldnt start again, called a wrecker towed it home and viola it started taking it off the flatbed, the next day i took it to dinner when i came out no start. overnight went back and up it started, got it home no start and then after sitting over night it didn't start so I used the shunt to run the pump didnt hear anything checked at the back plug, Power was there so I pull the tank pull the pump test it and it works perfectly, i set it in a bucket of gas under the van (I know) checked the pressure at the fuel rail and it was 40 psi so what the hell i started it, perfect runs like a champ I run it for 15 minutes shut it down starts right back up again I do it a couple more times and perfect so I am in trouble here I am going to Burningman the back way Jungo Road 100 miles of dirt isolation and trouble so I am loathe to do it in a van that may or may not start. what do you think oh all knowing sages? Heat soak? tired pump? bad luck? let me know quick

[timsrv]

Intermittent problems suck. They will always vanish when you troubleshoot. Since you already got the pump out I'd go ahead & replace. At least then you'll know one more thing that it isn't. Toyota pumps are expensive but there are options. Here's a quote from another thread:

Yes, Toyota pumps are very expensive (probably well over $400 by now). A possible alternative is aftermarket. I recently tried an aftermarket fuel pump from eBay. Normally I'm pretty strict about keeping my vans Toyota, but this one is a beater & I don't plan on driving it for very long. The pump (US Motor Works #USEP8023) cost $37.98 & had free shipping. It came quickly & included the pick-up filter & the outlet hose. Anyway, I was very impressed with the "perceived" quality & it looked/fit exactly like the original. So far it's been performing flawlessly over the past 6 months/6k miles. It was such an exceptional value I picked up a couple extras for spares. One curious thing I noticed is the application list for this pump is massively huge. It fits around 800 different makes, models & trim levels (including Dodge Sprinters) & is also used with diesel engines. Here's a link to the pump: http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Motor-Wor...9d5acd&vxp=mtr. Tim

PS: I just noticed these are about to sell out, so I just purchased a couple more for spares. Tim

[aydenrooster]

This same thing happened to me , it was a loose connection and or bad relay at the fuse panel under the dash , i replaced the fuel pump and filter before i figured it out, i also replaced the alternator because of the same problem.