Fuel Lift Pump not getting power

My 04 Beetle PD TDI won't start. I went through the troubleshooting here and have discovered that the in-tank fuel pump is not working (no whirring sound, disconnected the fuel filter intake line and with key in on position nothing came out). I put a voltmeter on the plug going into the pump and I get nothing when I turn the key to on so it seems power is not getting to the pump.
I've tried the obvious things:
- The so-called relay J17 (it's a 53 in position 10 on my beetle) is clicking as the key goes to on. I can also measure a voltage across the relay terminals after I turn key to on that goes away after about 4 seconds.
- Fuse #28 is good (tested with the multi-meter just to be sure).
- Relay 109 seems to be fine. It was already the gray one and my glow-plug light comes on like normal.
So, I'm looking for other ideas. Should I be suspicious of the wiring at this point? What on earth could have caused it to go bad. Is there anything else between the pump connector and power (other fuses, other relays I should suspect)?
Thanks!
Seth

Oh, I should have mentioned. The main reason I'm thinking it's not the fuel pump relay is because I swapped it with the relay for the horn (which was also a 53) and both do the same thing. They work fine when they are in the horn slot but the pump does not work with either relay.

Seth

"I put a voltmeter on the plug going into the pump and I get nothing when I turn the key to on so it seems power is not getting to the pump."

Doing this will indicate no voltage, when in fact, voltage is present at the lift pump plug.

When you turn the "ignition" on (key on), the lift pump inergizes for 1-2 seconds, IF the engien does not start. If the engine does not start, the pump power imediately shuts off, for safety reasons.

You have to hook up the volt meter (or test light) first and watch it as you cycle the key on. A brief meter input or light flash indicates all is well. Also, make sure you insert the meter probes into the two larger wire terminals in the plug (the smaller ones are for the fuel guage).

I have never read about a fuel pump relay failure in all the threads about non-working lift pumps.

Also, Bentley is wrong about the relay locations in the TDI. I have never figured out where the FP relay is in the BEW engine TDI.

Post back if you still get a no power reading. And if this does happen, try to apply 12 volts directly to the lift pump to verify that it does work. The brown wire in the plug is always the ground wire (negative), so that should tell you the correct polarity.

--Nate

The BEW lift pump relay is in position 10. Right in the middle. I think it was a 167 relay on my BEW. I have known of two occasions where it was bad, from reading on here. Never found a bad one myself.

Fuse 28 powers it.

But I suspect that the pump itself is bad, not the relay, and that you need to have someone else turn the key while you look at the voltmeter. A test light may be better as some of the digital VOMs will take a second to read anything, and maybe miss the power pulse (unless you can put it on a "capture the max voltage" setting.)

I know your pain. I changed my apparently ancient fuel filter this weekend(Circa 2007 per date of OEM housing) and found out the hard way that my pump is also shot. It didn't refill the new filter, lots of cranking sure did that after draining the battery 3 times. Luckily I really can't notice any loss in power but I bet it effects my fuel economy.

Done and done! I put 12v on the pump and got nothing. In fact, I got an open circuit across the + and - terminals (infinite resistance). So I ordered a new pump from world impex, installed (pretty straightforward job) and then let 'er rip. It took some real cranking but I could hear it firing so I stuck with it and sure enough, once the fuel system had worked the air out, it started. Ran it for several minutes then put the car back together.

In the meanwhile, a cold front blew into minneapolis and the temp dropped 20 deg. The cold plus a weakened battery caused it to not start once everything was back together (very disappointing). Put the battery on a charger over night and the next morning it started like a champ. Haven't had a problem since.

Thanks for all the advice!!

Seth

Anyone reading this in the future, try TheTDIWagonGuy for replacement pumps that go inside the old ones, or replacement units at a good price.

Ollie, you may want to buy a replacement small electric motor and pump unit and repair your old one.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=336104