Long story: ('97 40th anniv, 120k miles, bone stock)
A few months ago I went to do a day of work at my state park job where we are doing a photo survey of the fire damage from the SCU Lightning Complex Fire. On the first hill of any consequence my 80 stalled. We rolled back to a place where it was flat and eventually it started and we headed back towards civilization. Long chapter short: we made it to a gas station, filled up (I talked to OrangeFJ45 on the phone and he recommended making sure it had gas, thanks Big G.) but it was still stalling out, so we had it towed to a well-known cruiser mechanic (maybe more of an fj40 mechanic, but still).
He had it for some weeks trying to figure it out and traced it to an internally-broken wire by the battery. He installed a circuit breaker and I was back in business for more than a few benjamins.
During the diagnosis he used a fuel pressure gauge and verified the fuel pump good enough that he didn't replace it.
We drove it to the mall (not really, but you know what I mean) for some weeks without issue. One day last week my GF said it wouldn't start (in the driveway), but when I tried it, it was fine.
Last weekend was the return to the state park job. The first hill went fine. We made it way the f' out there until a much steeper 4x4 hill before it stalled. It started back up pretty quickly and we continued. We found a cadence of what worked and what didn't: flooring it up hills didn't work, but crawling very slowly worked ok. We took the photos and I made it home just fine.
I decided that (maybe) there was something causing the fuel pump to have a high power draw that (perhaps) fried the wire in the first place, and now it was hitting the circuit breaker instead, which makes some sense, since it would always restart.
Tonight I went to get a pizza. It drove fine to the place, then wouldn't start at all. It turns over. CE light is fine. At least I had food while I waited for a rescue.
I searched some threads and found that maybe a faulty fuel pressure regulator might cause too much current draw from the pump. Might it also eventually kill the pump?
A few months ago I went to do a day of work at my state park job where we are doing a photo survey of the fire damage from the SCU Lightning Complex Fire. On the first hill of any consequence my 80 stalled. We rolled back to a place where it was flat and eventually it started and we headed back towards civilization. Long chapter short: we made it to a gas station, filled up (I talked to OrangeFJ45 on the phone and he recommended making sure it had gas, thanks Big G.) but it was still stalling out, so we had it towed to a well-known cruiser mechanic (maybe more of an fj40 mechanic, but still).
He had it for some weeks trying to figure it out and traced it to an internally-broken wire by the battery. He installed a circuit breaker and I was back in business for more than a few benjamins.
During the diagnosis he used a fuel pressure gauge and verified the fuel pump good enough that he didn't replace it.
We drove it to the mall (not really, but you know what I mean) for some weeks without issue. One day last week my GF said it wouldn't start (in the driveway), but when I tried it, it was fine.
Last weekend was the return to the state park job. The first hill went fine. We made it way the f' out there until a much steeper 4x4 hill before it stalled. It started back up pretty quickly and we continued. We found a cadence of what worked and what didn't: flooring it up hills didn't work, but crawling very slowly worked ok. We took the photos and I made it home just fine.
I decided that (maybe) there was something causing the fuel pump to have a high power draw that (perhaps) fried the wire in the first place, and now it was hitting the circuit breaker instead, which makes some sense, since it would always restart.
Tonight I went to get a pizza. It drove fine to the place, then wouldn't start at all. It turns over. CE light is fine. At least I had food while I waited for a rescue.
I searched some threads and found that maybe a faulty fuel pressure regulator might cause too much current draw from the pump. Might it also eventually kill the pump?
Plus I got a new mountain bike and I really, really don't want to work on this cruiser. It's supposed to be the reliable member of my stable. 
I wish I knew that when I bought a $40 Lexus/Prius oil filter wrench the other day. That's better than when I used to get a TLCA discount. And free shipping for orders > $75 with code FREESHIP, so I don't even have to drive over there.
