sajohnson

[Because this is my first post, I hesitated to put in a plug for a vendor. I am in no way associated with CyberAuto. There may be equally good or better retailers. I just wanted to share my experience. Although I am new to this forum, I have been a member of www.NASIOC.com for several years (I own a WRX) -- same user name. I bought my NX2000 new from VOB Nissan in Rockville, MD, in November of 1993. Probably got one of the last new ones.]

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My 1993 NX2000 has had an intermittent starting problem for years. Routine maint. hasn't helped (new plugs, wires, dist. cap, rotor, fuel filter,etc).

Usually it starts right up. Sometimes however, it turns over but makes this sort of anemic 'wheezing' sound. It actually seems to be turning over faster than usual when this happens. In the past, we've been able to floor the accelerator and just continue to crank it until it starts. It is very rough at first, like its running on 2 cylinders out of 4. After about 30 seconds to a minute it smoothes out and then runs great.

Tuesday night however, it just would not start. We had to leave it in a parking lot and have it towed home earlier today. I can see the one cam rotating thru the oil fill hole. It has spark (at least out of the coil), and I could smell fuel (faintly).

[Later, after troubleshooting...]

The fuel pump is definitely bad. I removed the rear seat back and then the access plate over the fuel pump in order to get to the connector. With my meter already attached I turned the ignition to 'On' and observed 12.4 v (slightly below battery voltage) at the terminals for approx. 5 seconds (the ECU removes power after 5 seconds if the engine does not start).

Vendor Recommendation:

I ordered a new Walbro pump from www.fuel-pumps.net (part of "CyberAuto Group") early this morning. Their site is very easy to navigate, and they had both stock replacement as well as hi-po pumps. Although it looked like all they sell is Walbro, I wasn't 100% certain so I searched for the model # they listed (#GCA3364) using Google. The only links that came up were for their site (www.fuel-pumps.net). I did check out a couple of Google's "sponsored links" and found what appeared to be the same pump for less, but there was no model # and when I called the dealer nobody answered the phone. Walbro's site was no help, so I called CyberAuto and spoke with Chris a couple minutes ago. He verified that they sell only Walbro pumps. I mentioned the lower priced pump but admitted that I couldn't be sure if it was the same one. I emailed him the link to the other site and to his credit he confirmed that it was the same (he could have claimed it was different and I wouldn't have known). I asked if he would match the price and he said he couldn't, that the competitor was selling for about his cost, but we split the difference. He could have lied and told me that the pump I ordered had already shipped, thereby avoiding giving me any refund, but he admitted it was sitting on the counter ready for FedEx. That amount of honesty is increasingly rare in today's world, and in business transactions in particular.

So, I can recommend CyberAuto (or at least www.fuel-pumps.net) as a good place to buy from. If you call, Chris said that the phone is usually answered by a guy named Graham. From my experience, it looks like you might be able to find a lower price, but at least you can find what you're looking for at the CyberAuto website (some others wouldn't even allow a search by make/model/year) and they actually answer their phone! In fact, I never checked what S&H would have been at the competing site. As most folks already know, Internet retailers often draw you in with a lowball price and then slam you with some ridiculous shipping charge. CyberAuto charged me about $8 for shipping which is probably close to their actual cost.