The trans in my Sable still feel pretty crisp at this point, but that goes to show you can never tell with these things - I wouldn''t believe my fuel pump would take a dump at 65k miles.

On that point, what are your thoughts about keeping the tank full all the time. One of my friends is an old time mechanic and he swears if you don''t keep the tank at least half full all the time, your fuel pump overheats and wears out quicker. If that theory is true, maybe the previous owner drove my car with a low fuel tank.

I never bought the argument because I feel the pump doesn''t need to be submerged to stay cool. Even with a low fuel tank, the fuel pump would be cooled by the fuel running through it inside.

 

generally, as long as you don''t run the tank to near dry all the time (causing possible air suction) you shouldn''t have any trouble. sucking air makes liquid pumps wear out faster (that''s why you should always keep water or washer fluid in the washer reservoir). I generally go by the low fuel light. it comes on when I''m down to a quarter of a tank. My wife''s vic turns on at about 1/4 of a tank too. I would think that as long as you''re not sucking the tank dry, there shouldn''t be a problem unless your fuel tank cap won''t vent air into the tank as the pump is sucking fuel out. that can also put excess wear on the pump. The cap should work like a one-way valve allowing air in, but not out.

 

One of the things the repair manual said to check was the passive anti-theft alarm system to make sure it wasn''t cutting off the fuel.

My car has the passive anti-theft system and you can normally see a flashing light on the dash panel when the car is not running, which is the case now. However, I was never able to verify for sure the system hadn''t accidentally set itself. The other questions is how can I make sure I have properly re-set it.

I find it very unlikely this is the problem since I had fuel pump power at the inertia switch in the trunk, but I just want to make sure I''ve turned over every stone before I replace the fuel pump this weekend.

 

good call. I have no clue what the procedure for resetting the anti-theft system is short of just hitting the lock and unlock buttons on the remote. If you don''t have the remote, you may have to call a dealer to get the info on how to reset it.

 

As long as you don;t run the tank dry alot the pump should be fine.. The fuel flowing through it is what cools and lubricates the pump...


The passive alarm should reset as soon as the proper key is in and turned... However if mind serves me right the alarm doesn;t kill the fuel pump, it just won;t allow the PCM to fire the injectors.... Since you have power at the inertia swich I would bet your 2000 is like that...


The trans in my car shifts great, never slips, fluid looks beautiful and is changed every 25K... But just after it turned 90K starting at about 45mph (it''s in OD and the TCC is applied) it bucks... Feels like a miss. Tuned the engine up checked compression (good compression but the damn thing uses oil ?????) Had the thing on the scanner and ignition scope, couldn;t look any better..


It''s most noticable when going up a slighthill and not gassing it enough to down shift... Butit only is noticable after the TCC engauges. Over on the Tarus/Sable message board there were many people with the 3.0 DOHC and AX4N trans that commented about this then the trans taking a dump within 10K.. I suspect it''s a TCC problem.. Then about 120K it stopped.. Now at 140K it''s starting to do it again.. I maybe could get away with just replacing the torque converter but that''s alot of work to have the trans take a dump anyways... At this point I just don;t care and can deal with it, I just rely on something else if I''m traveling any distance...





Edited by: maxfax3

 

I''m going to replace the pump in the morning.

Just in case, how can I check the alarm status? I put both of my keys in the ignition switch and cranked it, unlocked the doors with the remote and the key, etc. The in dash alarm light seems to be flashing at the same rate as before so I suspect it hasn''t been triggered, but so far I haven''t been able to know for sure.

Probably after I get this problem straightened I''m going to trade it for something else. My 1988 Sable finally ran pretty good after I solved all it''s little problems. But when I took it in for a smog check it wouldn''t pass because the transmission was too inefficient. The state paid me $1000 to give it the wrecking yard so I used that money to buy my 2000 Sable. I just don''t like this car repeating the same pattern as before.

 

And what state may the be... LOL


Looking through alldata (they give great diagnoswtic info but not much on how the end user is to operate it) I believe the passive alarm is disabled as soon as it reads the correct key... IF the wrong key would be used, or if it just doesnt read the key it will reset itself as soon as it does read the proper code off the key...


The Active (or Perimeter?) alarm can be disabled by unlocking the doors with the key in the driver door, entereing the proper code in the key pad to unlock the door, or unlocking with the remote... The door has to be closed when doing so...


Once aganialldata is not real clear (and copied right from the Ford manuals too go figger) I think it''s the Active the disables the starter too..


Both systems disable fuel (pending on make/model how the engineer felt that day, etc) some disable only the injectors some diable the pump and injectors.. THe pump is disabled by simply not turning on the relay out under the hood.. So bypassing that relay even with the alarm triggered the pump should run (For on last ditch effort)

 

California gave me a $1000 to take it to a salvage yard. I was told at the time the Feds were giving them some matching funds because they wanted to get the old polluters off the road. It worked.

It had to meet the following criteria: Active vehicle registration for the prior year, Recently failed a smog test, You had to be able to drive it to the salvage yard, The car had to ninety percent complete. Even so I was able I take some things off the car that had worth.

Thanks for the info on then alarm.