A repair manual could be very helpful.

The fuel pump relay could be in a veriety of places. One popular place for relays is in the power control panel/box under the hood. Pop the lid open and look. It will have fuses and relays. On many car models, the relays are labeled, if not on the panel itself, maybe on a label in the lid of the box.

Under hood, center, upper firewall, mounted in relay block.

Thanks jemdandy and bob_k for replying to my question. But, I can't find any power control panel/box or any rely block under the hood. The only thing in the upper center of my firewall is a duct running from my heater blower to the inside under dash area.

I've found a diagram that shows the fuel pump relay to be mounted on the upper firewall right beside the power brake booster, but when I look there it isn't anywhere to be found.

I've never had a problem like this when trying to locate a switch/relay on a car and it's getting a little frustrating. But, I know it has to be somewhere and sooner, or later, I'll find it.

Anybody else have any insight?

Alan

Try this location:

Driver side, near battery, May have fan relay and fuses also.

It's on the relay bracket, at the center of the cowl, rear of the engine bay. The fuel pump relay is the closest one to the power brake booster.

I found a slender black box about center of the firewall that had 5 unmarked relays in it. I tried the new relay in each socket one at a time but no joy. Either the relay isn't one of these, or the problem is somewhere else. I've got power through the fuel pump fuse, but none to the pump and the gas hand goes past full and stays there when I turn the ignition switch on.

There is a relay behind the battery, but it's an oval shaped one and the relay I have is square.

I'm about to go back out and check the circuit to the tank again. I'll post back later. If anybody has any other ideas about what might be the cause of my problems please let me know.

Alan

Lots of ideas about what is wrong, but the answer lies in testing the system correctly. Behind the LF strut there is a gray connector with a red wire that does not appear to connect to anything. Take a test light and connect it to the battery positive terminal, and to that connector. The relay when turned off actually closes that connection and that feeds the fuel pump and is called a fuel pump priming connector. If the test light does not turn on the circuit is open or has excessive resistance. When you turn the key on without cranking the engine the relay will be turned on for about two seconds and then turn back off. The testlight should turn off, for that two seconds and then turn back on.

Tell us what happened with this test, and then I'll tell you what to do next.

After checking out the fuel pump plug connections at the rear of the gas tank I found out that the pump itself had quit working. I installed another pump and the car started right up.

Thanks for the tip john_g. I've printed out your instructions in case I need them in the future. I've noticed that loose connector there before but I never really gave much thought to it. It's good to know that it can be used for diagnostics.

I'm still somewhat perplexed about not knowing the location of this relay, but now that I've got the car going again I can kinda take my time and find out where it is. I might take it by a Pontiac dealer this week and see if they can show it to me.

Thanks for everybody's help.

Alan