Fuel Pump Relay 96 740

[p_villa3030]

run out of gas last night then i fuel the car and it wount start i dont know if it has a relley or a security button this is a 1996 740 bmw i live in a small town it its hard to find a good mecanic i put some staring fluid and it runs for seconds and then dies i check the fuel pump fuse and is good then i check for the fuel pump system and there is no power there so there is no power geting to the fuel pump do you know if there is a relley or a swich somewhere or what its the deal i would apreciate your help

[Dirty_Tool]

There are 2 fuses in the system fuse # 57 and fuse #17. So make sure both of those specific fuses are ok. The relay should be located in the right rear of the trunk in the trunk fuse/relay carrier above the battery. It should be the 2nd relay from the rear of the car but in case it has been swapped with another of the relay locations back there double check the wire colors going to it to be sure. You should have 2 black with violet wires going to it and prob a solid red and maye a red/violet or similar. The black with violet wires should be the key.

The DME (engine control module)controls the relay and it is what makes the decision to turn the fuel pump on. You can bypass both the relay and the DME logic by jumping pin #6 to pin #2 at the relay and provided that fuse # 57 is good this should run the pump. If the pump runs then you can backtrack to the problem which would hopefully just be a bad relay but could be a more serious DME problem.

DT