Fuel Pump Relay

Lately or maybe for a long time i had problems with my fuel pump relay, a really strange problem, i had different voltages on the coil circuit, every time i was measuring. Recently, at times it wasn't starting at all. Sometimes probably it was flickering on the pump circuit while driving. This might explain the sudden decrease in fuel economy after 2004 when i came back from Romania. I went to all of the mechanics i knew and they all told me: Just drive the damn car, George! It will cost you more to fix it than the difference you pay for the extra gas!

But now it started not to start any more. After taking apart in one whole day most of the connectors of the electric circuits, i figured the problem comes directly from the computer, and i understood now why it does not stop the fuel pump after 2 seconds. Then i connected the relay coil directly to the ignition bypassing the computer and voilà! fixed the problem. I still don't have fuel pump interruption after two seconds but who cares. I didn't have that since i bought it. Another interesting phenomenon though: After i did the above described short cut, the computer suddenly started to output the right voltage for the relay when measured without the modification! And that happened while i was near the car, nobody had access to it, from one minute to another, the only explanation could be someone has control over it from a distance.

Since the relay if it was flickering on the pump circuit because of the low voltage probably was flickering at higher rpms when vibration was present, and now DEQ only tests the cars at idle and for my year and type, 1998 Chevy S10, it not even tests it any more, just downloads the diagnostic data from the computer. I think those big dynos from the basement of DEQ testing floor from the good old days had their own good use.