Overland Park: Need to borrow fuel pump relay for 5 minutes

Wife & I went to a bar about a mile from my house tonight. Had a great parking spot right out front. Approaching car, stranger walks by and says "Great car!" Dang, he jinxed me. Car started and ran for about 5 seconds then quit. Now turns over but won't start. Classic Fuel Pump Relay failure symptoms - happened to me once with my 964. Left the car overnight rather than getting it towed tonight. My son came to pick mom & I up in his 951 - I got to ride in the backseat (all 6 ft, 240 lbs of me). Rather than having it towed tomorrow (Sunday), anybody out there in my neck of the woods willing to let me borrow your relay for about 5 minutes to drive my car home? Would be happy to buy one off anyone with a spare.

If you are sure that it is not a fuse blown, this is what you want. I think it is located under the dash to the left of the steering column. http://www.parts-wise.com/99661510100-relay/p109379/ To me it looks the same as others standing in the same row of the relay holder. Could you use one of the others to get you home? I think they have 53 on the top of them. Not right sure without straining my back and neck to get under the dash. Here is a photo of the fuse bank from under the dash. Not sure which relay is for the gas pump. If you know the faulty relay then its an easy process to find which one controls the horn. . You could use that one. Pip the horn, pull a relay repeating till the horn does not work. Use that one to get you home. http://www.ex-lancs.com/web/fuse.jpg

Thanks Hurdi! I haven't checked the fuse yet, so I'll look at that when I go over there in a few minutes. I didn't want to open it up and start poking around in the dark right in front of the bar last night. I'll probably roll it down to the far end of the parking lot, do a little poking around and then if I can't get it running, just have it towed home. I'll look at swapping out relays, but I think I read in one of the threads last night that the fuel pump relay was different. I did read where somebody jumped the relay to get home. But it looks like it has 4 legs, so I'm not sure how to make one - not as easy as jumping a fuse with just 2 contact points. Worse case, I'll get it towed home or to RennsportKC and let Doc have a whack at it. I saw some threads on a fuel pump going out (hope it's not that as pump for a C4 looks expensive), but if it is the pump, can anyone give me a DIY difficulty rating to swap it out?

Not sure I understand. If you suspect the fuel pump relay or fuse I'd think the cost would be low enough that you could just buy one of each from a local auto parts store. In this case given the parts cost is so low that throwing parts at the symptom is not the worst thing you could do. A fuel pump R&R job is not the most auto mechanic challenging job there is that is for sure but I prefer to leave this job to the pros as the fuel tank has to be opened up to remove the old pump and install and connect the new pump. If you want to to tackle this yourself there are I'm sure some DIY write ups maybe even some videos though I do not know off hand where these are but a search for them should turn them up.

Thanks Macster. I would gladly buy a relay from an auto parts store if the stores that are open today carried them in stock. I did check the fuse and it is OK. If it is not the relay I will just have it towed to Doc's shopand let him fix it.

While Aristocrat Motors is closed today of course I would think the relay would be an off the shelf item, available at any large chain auto parts store, but maybe not. How about across the state line? Overland Park is not that far from the MO/KS state line. IIRC just a few exits east on I-435.

Macster, I'm very impressed that a Californian would be that familiar with our little burg out here in flyover land. I lived in California (San Diego) for 4 years, but still had to look up where Livermore is! Anyhow, thanks to KC_Michael, we swapped his fuel pump relay into my car, but alas, no change - still turns over but won't start. Just to be sure the engine was spinning fast enough, used jumper cables from another car (with its engine running). After it didn't start, several times I tried listening for a noise from the fuel pump after switching the key on before cranking the car. I couldn't hear anything coming from the front of the car. So, fuel pump fuse is good and swapping in a known good fuel pump relay made no difference. Car has little over 1/4 tank of fuel - I know the C4 has a saddle bag fuel tank design that can cause the car to run out of gas on one side of the tank, but I'm betting that's pretty unusual. Since no noise coming from the fuel pump area, I'm going to guess bad fuel pump. Regardless, I'm pretty much at the limit of my time and talents on this one, so off to RennsportKC it goes to have Doc take a whack at it. Thanks to everyone for the help. I'll post the final outcome once known.

Fingers crossed for an easy fix!

Thanks Gator. I guess I should have pulled the trigger on that sweet silver car that was up for sale down south a few weeks ago, eh? Would've had a spare. Hope you're enjoying the new car.

If the pump relay is a standard one with. 53 o. It, you can just pull it and jump the poles. This will get the pump going. Don't forget to pull the wires when you park it.

I lived east of KC MO some time (approx 4 years) from 2000 to 2004 and worked in Blue Springs Mo. I bought my 1st Porsche from Aristocrat Motors in Merriam KS. I bought my 1st (and probably only) VW from the VW dealer -- the name escapes me -- almost across the freeway (I-35) from the Porsche (and Jag and M-B and Rover and more recently Smart) dealer. Several of the restaurants I really liked were located in that area and I was down there at least once or more times a week the whole time I lived in that area. Also, a good bookstore was close by and well, I spent some of my spare time in that area and still remember some of the area. Also, I rather liked that part of the KC MO metro area.

It's definitely a small world. Glad to hear the fond memories. That I-35 & Shawnee Mission Parkway area has become a big car dealership area now with lots of new dealerships over the past few years. I had a buddy who bought a brand new 1982 VW Scirocco from that VW dealership back in the day. Update, had the car towed to RennsportKC this morning, and waiting to hear diagnosis from Porsche Doc.

was just gonna cruise over and bum one off Carl for a few hours. but I guess you found him.

deleted... I was wrong

Well, just heard back from Karl - it was the fuel pump. He's already got it fixed and ready for pickup. Thanks to everyone for the input, and especially to KC_Michael for the relay loaner!

Glad to hear of a fairly easy fix and that you are back on the road so quickly.

Jeff's fuel pump replacement...... http://rennsportkc.com/a-996-died-an...-ims-for-once/

Thanks again Karl! And thanks for the trunk release switch you gave Alex for his 951. Now I just need to figure out that exhaust note, and work a little on the paint, and look for that 3-spoke steering wheel, and upgrade the wheels, and . . .

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I know your fuel issue is last year but I just had the same issue and was told to use any other relay as a substitute. I only have three 3 in the 78 911sc so tried one and bingo it worked. Sprayed anti corrosion stuff in all 3 relay sockets and all good. I am going out to buy a spare relay though!!!!

Deoxit is great for cleaning contacts. I had a fuel pump relay go out on my 964 several years ago. Started carrying a spare one in the glove box.