740GL dies (fuel pump relay replaced)

[Frank (2)]

Hi there,

Car: 89 740GL
KM: 175,000 KM

problem: Driving on a city street, not going too fast then felt the car shake a little.. Continued to drive and then felt the car shake a minute later again but this time, the check engine light comes on immediately after the shake ->car dies.

Tried to restart right away and failed. Sat there for about 3 min, then tried restarting and it was good to go. Check Engine light remained on. I took it to my mechanic and explained to him what happend. He thought for a second and said a few possible problems causing this. I left the car for him to check. Went to pick up car and he said he replaced the fuel pump relay. Is this possible solution? I don't want to find out the hard way that this is not the solution!!

I feel nervous when I drive the car now even after the repair did not fix the problem. I just worry it will die suddenly again. I drive on the curb lane, and my heart starts to pound when I make a left turn.. worried that it will die in the middle and end up blocking 4 lanes of traffic

Frank in Vancouver, BC

 

[Steve Rodgers]

The fuel pump relay is a very common source of problems for the 740

It is to do with the solder joints within the relay cracking, I believe this is caused by heat due to the current flowing through the circuit.

It seems a good bet that the relay was the problem.

Steve.

 

[RAZ]

The same happened to me on my '85 740. I replaced the relay twice in 160k miles, so you did OK on the first one.

The other similar type of problem is when the AMM dies. THe difference here is that the car will start and idle but you can't accelerate, it stalls.

BobZ