Broken Fuel Pump bracket / weird wiring problem

[femmeDSM]

Hopefully someone can offer me some guidance here. I am at my wit's end with this car!

Short background info: Car was not getting fuel, due to the FP not turning on....I suspected faulty wiring from the beginning (bought the car with a host of weird problems, so nothing was out of the question)...

Fuel pump still would not turn on, even when using a jumper wire from the test connecter to the + battery terminal. Upon closely inspecting the wiring at the fuel pump, I came across this little gem. (See picture)

The yellow wire (circled, right) is live, and tested at 12 volts. However, it goes nowhere. It appears that it used to go to the little blue plastic connecter on the pump bracket (also circled, left).

There is definitely not enough wire here for me to splice and re-wire it (is there? )

What should I do? Will I need to replace the whole pump bracket? I've never seen anything quite like this before.

If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would much appreciate it. I'm almost at the end of my rope here....Hopefully I can get this girl running as soon as I fix this dumb problem. I feel like a total tool for not noticing such an obvious problem until now. Feel free to point and laugh, haha

 

[DSM90AWD]

I'm pretty sure that wire (yellow) goes to the fuel level sending unit and not the 12v+ supply to the pump as looking thru the following two VFAQs, the 12V+ is the black wire with white stripe next to the ground:

http://www.plymouthlaser.com/rewire.htm
http://www.vfaq.com/mods/pump-relay.html

Having recently worked to diagnose my fuel level gauge problems, I found that on the my 1990 the connector comming off the fuel pump's pinout are:
- #1 Idiot light
- #2 Factory fuel gauge
- #3 Ground
- #4 12V Power

 

[femmeDSM]

Thanks for that info ... Now I know why my gauge doesn't work, at least

There is a lot of chewed up wiring coming from the pump, so I guess I will just have to follow each of these wires to see which one is bad. Once I find the bad wire (assuming there is one, which I'm pretty sure of, given the sad state of the wiring back there), should I just be able to splice it back together as usual, or is the FP wiring super picky for any reason? I'm just hoping to not have to find a whole new FP wiring harness (if there even is such a thing)...

Thanks again for your help, though. I searched and searched for an actual diagram of "which wire goes to what" and you are the first person who has been able to tell me. haha.

 

[femmeDSM]

P.S. --- In case anyone was wondering, this is the "chewed up wiring" that I'm talking about. That black/white wire is actually cut off on BOTH ends of the plastic piece. So, basically, it's been completely removed. ........Yeah........

There's actually more, down the wires a bit, but that's the one that had me going

Why would someone do this...............

 

[DSM90AWD]

If I were you, I'd just follow one of the two VFAQ links I sent you on how to "rewire" the fuel pump. It's not a really difficult job, cost is minimal ($10-20) and will greatly help fuel pump performance.

Since the stock 12V source is swiched by the ignition key, you just need to pickup a Bosh-style relay ($5 at Radio Shack / any Auto Parts store) that taps to key swichable fuse (fuse box)and some heavier gauge wire.

If the connector on the pump cover is too short for splicing, can always drill a new one, feed new wire thru and then epoxy (JB Weld) the hole

 

[femmeDSM]

If I were you, I'd just follow one of the two VFAQ links I sent you on how to "rewire" the fuel pump. It's not a really difficult job, cost is minimal ($10-20) and will greatly help fuel pump performance.

Since the stock 12V source is swiched by the ignition key, you just need to pickup a Bosh-style relay ($5 at Radio Shack / any Auto Parts store) that taps to key swichable fuse (fuse box)and some heavier gauge wire.

If the connector on the pump cover is too short for splicing, can always drill a new one, feed new wire thru and then epoxy (JB Weld) the hole

Will do! Thanks for the help.

Just out of curiosity though, what can I do about that yellow sending unit wire that's disconnected? Funny thing how I like to know how much gas is in my tank. .

 

[DSM90AWD]

Will do! Thanks for the help.

Just out of curiosity though, what can I do about that yellow sending unit wire that's disconnected? Funny thing how I like to know how much gas is in my tank. .

Can wire it in the same as I mention above (e.g. splice new wire thru the pump cover).

Or, as both the Idiot light terminal and the Fuel Level sendor terminal read the same exact OHMs, so you could also just swap the two (though the Idiot light would no longer work).

Oh, and if it's not obvious disconnect the battery prior to doing any of this work and dont' do any soldering in the hatch area of your car near the fuel pump

 

[steve]

Why would someone do this.

Poor execution of a fuel pump rewire. In the rewire you use the old power feed to trigger the relay that would feed power to the pump.

Steve

 

[femmeDSM]

Can wire it in the same as I mention above (e.g. splice new wire thru the pump cover).

Or, as both the Idiot light terminal and the Fuel Level sendor terminal read the same exact OHMs, so you could also just swap the two (though the Idiot light would no longer work).

Oh, and if it's not obvious disconnect the battery prior to doing any of this work and dont' do any soldering in the hatch area of your car near the fuel pump

Awesome, thanks. I hate the idiot light anyway, so I think I'll kill it. haha.

And yeah, no need to remind me to disconnect the battery -- I'm way "too" safe when it comes to stuff like that, and I will disconnect my battery anytime I am anywhere remotely near any wiring of any kind. . Thanks for the reminder though ... This probably would have been the only time I forgot, and I would end up electrocuting myself (and catching the gas tank on fire).