I just remembered the fuel pump primer lead. Right above the battery should be a green electrical connector just hanging there. Run a fused link (8 or bigger gauge wire that in theory should have a fuse on it, maybe 20 amp) from the positive battery terminal to it. If your pump is good, it should turn on when you do that with the car off.

Update!

So, I jumpered the fuel pump primer lead, and the pump DOES WORK. Doesn't sound wierd or anything.

So I tore open the door jamb, cleaned the ground bus quite thoroughly, dielectric greased it, and packed it back up and taped it.

Got a jumpstart from my roommate, and bango, it runs! Badly, but I'm assuming that'* because the battery was very low and I damaged the gasket on that vacuum distribution block over the TB / SC area when removing the pressure regulator for inspection. I'm going to replace that gasket ASAP, as I'm sure a vacuum leak right before the intake would be very bad to ignore, if you can make it run.

I propped the gas pedal to maintain about 2000 rpm to warm up / charge up and it ran for about a minute at that rate. I let off the gas and it bogged down to a rough idle and died. Not too surprised with that vacuum leak, but when I tried to start it back up, it wouldn't start!

Now, the pump still works if I jumper it, but it won't engage upon turning the ignition, and I got that PASS key code 58 again, RIGHT away.

I'm beginning to worry that that might actually be the cause of this, and I have a sneaking suspicion that this is gonna get REALLY expensive REALLY fast :(
Any thoughts?

Dirty key? Take a flashlight and look in the key cylinder. Dirty?

I got the key with a pencil eraser already, but I haven't looked in the key tumbler yet...

maybe i'll get after that somehow...

Glad to hear the pump is working. The Pass Key system would disable the starter & IIRC the fuel injectors not the fuel pump.

You can try swapping the fuel pump relay with one of the others. You can also remove the relay & test for 12 volts at the relay center terminals. I believe there is a wiring diagram on the bottom of the relay. I'll see if I can find which terminals to check.

Well, I just took some Q-tips and some battery connection cleaner, sprayed one Q-tip, got the ignition pretty well and wiped up the rest with another one, and it seems to be engaging the fuel pump just fine.

the thing that shakes me though is that the car died while i was driving, cranked over HARD, and now seems to be acting normally, which are not really symptoms of the VATS system. I'm kinda wondering if it'* that relay

Things just aren't adding up. Try disconnecting the battery cables, remove the bolts & rubber boots & check for corrosion. We need to make sure you're getting a good power supply. Let us know what you find.

not sure why this was not asked yet.


whats the status of the SECURITY light on the dash when you try to start the car.

I'm guessing it stays on after the other idiot lights turn off. if so you need to fix the wire for the passkey or do the resistor fix..I believe its in techinfo

code 58 is a known bug in the 92 PCMs

Alrighty, just to be redundant, here is a list of what I have done:

*I visually inspected the fuel pressure regulator, which seems fine. In the process, I removed a vacuum junction block on the intake, damaging the gasket. It now has a vacuum leak between the throttle body and the SC.

*I have removed both battery terminals, sprayed them with terminal cleaner, wiped them clean, applied di-electric grease and reattached them.

*I have cleaned the ground bus connector in the same fashion, and electric taped it thoroughly to prevent further corrosion.

*I have jumpered the fuel pump primer lead to establish that the pump does indeed work.

*I jump started my car earlier today and actually had it running. It ran badly, very rough on idle, but fine on higher rpms. I propped the throttle to around 2000 rpms, but when I removed it after a minute or so, the car died and wouldn't start again.

*I have jump started my car a second time with my friends running car, left the cables hooked up for over 5 minutes.


My car will now turn over well, but will not fire. It is getting fuel pressure up to the fuel rail. I have not yet verified if it is sparking though.

I'm extremely confused... I'm guessing my next step would be verify spark and clean the ground connections on the coil mount setup. Any thoughts?

I don't remember the status of that light. I'll have to look into that.

I was aware that there was an issue with the '92s, but I was not aware that it would cause any problems.
Would a new ignition tumbler / key solve this problem or is it the computer?