This 2001 Dodge Stratus came in with the complaint that sometimes it just does not run. The car had recently been purchased from a used car lot and since buying it the new owner had installed two fuel pumps. It ran for about a week after the first one was installed. When the fuel pump stopped working the second time, they replaced it again. This time it did not “fix it”. The car was towed back to the used car lot where it started up. They drove it to the shop and it ran for several days. Once it stopped running, I did a quick check for spark and fuel pulse. Both were present. There was no fuel pressure, so I jumped the fuel pump relay and still no fuel pressure. After consulting a wiring diagram I found that the ground for the fuel pump was located below the latch assembly inside the trunk. I pulled the liner back and this is what I found.
A better view.
That connection had been loose for quite a while as evidenced by the rust and discoloration on the screw.
I repaired the wiring, glass beaded the screw, wire brushed the body ground point and reattached all wiring. Before putting the trunk liner back in place, I sprayed some paint on the entire connection to help seal it.
The thing that amazed me was this. Okay the ground had been bad for a while and most likely was the reason for the previous owner getting rid of the car, but the large ground cable was installed by someone adding an amp to the radio. Why, when the bad ground was seen did they not fix this? The new owner’s boyfriend installed the amplifier ground, had the oxidized bolt in his hand and had to have seen that the ring terminal was broken. Why oh why did he not fix this? To make matters worse he has been a total jerk through the repair process and did not inform any one of his actions.
On a slightly different note, does any one know the meaning of this error message. I have never seen it before. I cannot enter OE communications with my scan tool but it will communicate with the OBD2 software.
