have problem with my 87 Starion

[DoughBoy]

I'm thinking it's the fuel pump. but i'm not positive. The car starts right up, stays started for a minute, and shuts off. it idles fine, haven't tried to drive it, don't want to. this is the first time i've ever had this problem with my Starion. any thing would help. Thanks

[starquestJOE]

i think would be best asked in Virtual Mechanic . sorry i have no idea what would cuz this.

[grazel3793]

could be a number of things...but ill let the pros help you.... Edited October 2, 2008 by grazel3793

[mikec]

When it shuts off... is it a clean "death" like turning off the key or does the engine shake/vibrate for a couple seconds and then die? If the latter, then it sounds a lot like fuel starvation from a bad pump or blocked fuel pick-up filters. A mechanical oil or fuel pressure guage tapped into the hex plug at the top/rear of the throttle body is a dead-reliable way to verify this... hook the guage up, run a jumper wire from the battery "+" post to the fuel pump test terminal (one-wire connector hanging from/taped to the wire bundle between the air filter canister and the fender, a black+white wire), and verify the fuel pressure sits at 36 to 38psi for as long as the wire is connected. Start the engine (jumper still connected) and verify the pressure stays the same. If it starts drifting down, it's a pump or filter bug.

 

If the fuel pressure holds at 36 to 38psi while the engine dies then it's NOT a pump issue - something else is killing the engine. Ignition, flakey injector connector "clips", flakey ECI fusible link, flakey almost-anything-under-the-hood really. Even a flakey ignition switch.

 

mike c.