I have a 1996 Dodge B1500 cargo van. It has a V6 . I left it running in front of my house while I ran the snow blower. Normally this does not take long BUT this was a major snow storm and I ended up doing the neighbors driveway too. So It sat running for an hour or there abouts. I put the snow blower in the garage and went to pull the van in and it had stalled. Remembering there was not much gas in it ( oops ) I put 3 gallons in it. Engine cranks over, no start. I cannot hear the fuel pump turn on A N D the fuel; gauge reads beyond the full mark. I swapped fuel realays, no good. Lucky for me 3 years ago when I re[placed the pump, I cut an access panel in the floor so it is ridiculously easy to get to the pump. So, the question is how do I verify voltage to the pump? I probed all the connections with a test light but none showed power. What is the correct way to diagnose this??

 

I can tell you that these vans do not like being idled for long periods, and also that the fuel pump is very likely to fail when there isn't enough fuel in the tank to cool it.

The fuel pump should only run a few seconds when the ignition is first turned on so it's not surprising that you wouldn't normally have voltage at the pump when the engine isn't actually running. In this case I'd probably check for fuel pressure first and proceed from there.

If you have no fuel pressure, you can run a hot lead to the fuel pump relay (or straight to the fuel pump) to verify where the issue is. The fact that the fuel gauge is pegging at full is a clue that there is more is going on here. If the pump runs when tested as suggested but still won't start I'd try resetting the computer.

 

Thanks, I will ck it out when I get home from work today. I never thought about plugging my scanner in and clearing the computer.

 

Its not a bad idea to read the codes, assuming you have any. But clearing those codes will not reset the computer, you need to disconnect the battery cable for 15 - 20 minutes.

 

Well I got'er all ship shape! I had voltage to the fuel pump after I checked carefully. Knowing that, I bought a new pump and put it in. Nothing, the pump would not run. Checked voltage again and noticed my test light did not light as bright as normal. So, I got under the van and found the wiring harness had been weighted down by ice and snow. Hanging over the drive shaft it rubbed through and there was 1 or two strands of wire left in the hot wire for the pump. So, I healed the harness and zip tied the heck out of it so it can NEVER happen again. She fired RIGHT up and runs great. My only question seems to be why didn't it blow a fuse?? Odd??

 

You asked why it didn't blow a fuse.
My guess would be because it's behind a relay, which is together with the Auto-Shut down relay, which is supplied by a fairly large fuse (30 or 40 I think).
Chances are, the wire strands may burn up sooner than blowing a fuse.
Hard to say.

Check the condition of the other wires too, you have a fuel sensor wire to the computer and a fuel meter wire for the guage in the dash.