E36 Died at the shops, help locating fuel pump relay

[kwhelan 231]

Son drove his e36 to shops and it wouldn't restart, cranks fine, same symptoms12 months ago was a new fuel pump to solve.

towed it home and started going through the obvious, fires and runs on a can of engine start in the air cleaner so suspect fuel issue again.

no power at the fuel pump and no power at the fuel pump fuse ? #18  in the engine bay

looked at internet and it indicates fuel relay should be outside the fuse box and is relay 1 of 3  (fuel/main/02 heater relay)

this car only has two in that location and 1 is the main  (pulling it kills everything), swopped the two relays 1 and 2 to prove relays are both ok

so I'm thinking that the second is not the actual fuel relay at all

surely no 12v at fuse mount indicates relay issues or am I missing something

question is where is the relay I'm looking for or am I completely wrong expecting 12v constant at the fuse and the pump with ignition on.

 

Edited May 8, 2018 by kwhelan

[aja540i 1895]

mine did this after i swapped the door handle, it was a switch on the door lock mechanism, something to do with the anti theft stuff, it fired up as soon as i got it fitted properly, but it would only start when you unlocked it with the key in the drivers door, if you left the window down and unlocked it from the inside handle it would just crank over until the battery died.

[kwhelan 231]

so fuel relay  had been swopped over with main location. Spent a lot of wasted time chasing no voltage at the fuse or pump only to find power is only there for 2 seconds at key on. learnt something there

anyway 12 month old fuel pump had died, had another spare but wasted more time as hadn't realised it was wired in reverse, made noises but didn't pump fuel caused some more swearing.

working in the dark with a phone for a torch and minimal tools is just not fun