This weekend after having the fuel cell out of my car, the car would not start. I determined the following.

- Ignition was ok, but changed plugs and wires to be sure
- Fuel pressure checked ok
- Injectors appeared to be firing
- Plugs would get wet, appearing like fuel was getting in cylinders
- Squirting starter fluid in the butterfly would cause it to start

Today after confirming problem still existed I turned on the ingnition to pressurize the fuel system. Then I unplugged the fuel relay. My thought was that if too much fuel was being injected cranking the motor until the fuel emptied out of the rail eventually the fuel would reduce to the correct level and the engine would fire. It did. After that I plugged the relay back in and the car now runs. Any ideas why? How did pulling the relay reset whatever the problem was?

It can take a long time to properly prime a drained fuel system. Usually you would want to bypass the computer and run the pump until pressure comes up. http://www.specparts.com/fuel-pump-activation/

We worked on a car this weekend that had an air valve welded into the gas cap, suspected that they had the same problem.

How much did you put in after replacing the cell? Do you measure fuel pressure?

Dave

We were measuring 40 psi with master switch on and 30 psi when cranking. We were getting fuel flow out of the schrader valve when we would check

I was there for the diagnostics on this one so I can say the fuel flow and pressure was fine. Therefore we did not replace the fuel relay but did try the ECU relay. We were chasing a voltage drop until we found the drop to go back all the way to the battery during cranking. This is just strange and I have never heard anything like it. I guess that is why we have always replaced the relays on an annual basis.

Dave said: We worked on a car this weekend that had an air valve welded into the gas cap, suspected that they had the same problem.

That fitting dates waaay back to the Renault. The mechanical fuel pump had a return fuel fitting that was commonly sent back to the cell via that fitting. After that was abandonded we put the schrader valve back in. Geez I am getting old!