Expert: Roland Finston - 10/24/2011

Question
I have a 91 Plymouth Acclaim, 3.0L. The other day we were traveling on the hi-way when my wife noticed we were low on gas. Being a typical guy I passed quite a few gas stations. The gage was so low I was even getting nervous. Finally pulled into a station and the car died 10 feet from the pump. There was no sputtering or jerking as I might have suspected by running out of gas. I turned off the key and tried to start it again and I had absolutely nothing. Starter would not run, no clicking from a bad solenoid, strong battery (good lights).  I opened the hood and noticed a faint burnt smell but I couldn't find where it came from. After filling up the tank with gas, I jumped the starter with a screw driver and it turned over strong but I could not get it to start. I suspect that I ran the tank so low that it may have started to suck air and that there is a relay that possibly tripped to protect the fuel pump. I have been reading your posts and it is mentioned that the ASD relay is the furthest forward of the three on the drivers side inner fender in back of the battery. I tried switching the three around but they are keyed differently. Some additional info,with the key at the run position the headlights work (as I stated before), four ways work, directionals do not work, radio does not work, windshield wipers do not work, blower works. I don't want to spend $20 on a relay if that is not the problem. Any suggestions on troubleshooting?

Answer
Hi Todd,
It appears to me that something caused a 'fusible link'* to blow out which supplies one of the three sections of the ignition switch that powers those things that don't work including the engine systems. If you look behind the battery for a black torpedo-shaped disconnect that has a  incoming black wire the comes from the battery + post, its out going black wire is connected to a spice which couples 7 wires together, and then find the only red wire at that splice, and follow it to a splice-together of that red with an orange, white, and gray wires, and then inspect the orange wire you will likely find that it has disintegrated. That is a 'fusible link' which has blown and needs to be replaced. It is possible that it blew as you suggested due to the fuel pump overdrawing the current limit on that orange fusible. There are a number of such fusibles in this area which are tested by gently pulling on the two ends of each of them, but I believe the orange one I described is the one that you need to replace (by soldering it together at the splices that its ends were connected to after stripping away the insulation to get a clean attachment point where you can wrap the replacement link wire and then solder the joint. That should restore power to pin B1 (a red wire at the ignition switch plug at the steering column) and restore the normal functioning of that important section of the switch.
Roland
*fusible link" is a resistive wire that acts like a fuse, should be available at a parts store, get the same color as the one that has blown. The 'four ways' hazard flasher by the way is powered directly from the battery rather than through the ignition switch so that is why they work.
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