So I just finished replacing the headgasket's, now it wont run. It will run with starting fluid but soon dies. I am thinking about fuel pump, filter or ecm. Any other ideas? gemsv8, 1996. thanks.

 

I can't think of what any of those would have to do with replacing the headgaskets. Are you sure that you hooked up all of your sensor's, injectors, fuel line correctly? I'd start by checking all of those.

 

If it were the ECU it wouldnt run at all.
Do you have fuel pressure at the fuel rail?
You know you have spark, so thats not it.
It has to be a fuel issue.
Clooged filter, fuel pump relayor bad pump.

 

They wouldnt have anything to do with replacing the headgaskets. But, nevertheless, it wont stay running so I am thinking the filter, pump or ecm is to blame, just not sure. I will re-check the connections (to be honest I havent double checked the connections as I should have) I hope it ends up being as simple as that. The fuel line was never disconnected, I just unatached the rail from the rest and moved it aside, so there shouldnt have been any issues with pressure, yet, I mashed the pressure (tire pressure looking thing on the fuel rail) nozzle and there was nothing in it. so I am leaning in the direction of the pump.

 

I had the same issue in a VW once and come to find out it was a vacuum hose not plugged in to the intake manifold....check for vacuum leaks. Good Luck!!

 

Check and make sure the crank sensor was not damaged and it is connected properly.

 

I will check those when I get a chance. Thanks for the suggestions. What about the pressure to the fuel rail, any concerns?

 

If the crank sensor is not working the pump won't either.

 

SO all the sensors and wores are all pluged in and connected properly. I was able to drive it around the block and up the road....till it died. Just kind of wound down, like it ran out of gas, this is re-enforcing my suspicions of a bad fuel pump. I walked home (its a warm 19 to 20 out) and had the wife bring me back for a jump. So I got it home and as I was opening the garage door it just died out. Anythoughts? I think it might be related to the alternator as well, the batt light is on and I had it on a charger for a while, I will do what I can to rule it out. Here is some incentive for you guys to figgure out the problem, the jump vehicle was a nissan frontier, how many times do I need to jump my rover with a nissan?

 

Get a volt meter on there and see how many volts you have at the battery with the car off and while running. Kind of a similar situation, by LR would not turn over after I did my headgaskets, even though I had charged my battery while it was disconnected and it was putting out 12.4 volts. A jump and a new battery got me going though. I know my battery was hurting but it was doing the job before the headgaskets.However, my grounds looked like crap when I disconnected them during the repair, they were pretty green. I can only guess that they weren't grounded as well when I hooked them back up and my weak battery justcouldn't cut it. So I would check all your grounds and make sure they are clean too, sometimes it can be hard to see the corrosion in the wires though.