Greetings, my first post on this invaluable site, sorry it's a bit long. I hope someone might offer some suggestions for this odd situation.

My '89 240 has 216K miles and generally runs well. Several months ago I was having hot start problems and traced it to the pump relay which visibly had cracked solder joints. I picked up a few extras at the junk yard for spares, though I noticed they had a somewhat different number. I resoldered them all and and put the repaired original back in. It's given no more trouble till now. I might note that when I was having the previous problem, the main pump would sometimes run a bit loud but I haven't noticed it in a while, I've had to clean the contacts on the power stage a few times, I replaced a failed fuel pressure reg and the filter is probably the original and needs replacement.

Now the new problem is this: I came out of a store and the car wouldn't start. I pulled the fuel line at the pressure reg and cranked it, no gas came out though I could hear the relay click when I turned the key. I put a hose in the tank and listened as I cranked it but there was no sound from the pre pump. I then ran a set of jumpers across the tank pump fuse to the main pump fuse and could then hear the tank pump running. It sparked as I made the connection (key off). The car started and ran fine with the jumpers in place. If I disconnected them the car stalled. I drove home with jumpers in place and the next day I replaced the relay with one of the spares I had. The relay clicked but the car wouldn't start, pre pump again not priming or running. I checked the power stage and it had water in both terminals, I dried them and cleaned the connections, car still wouldn't start. I again used the jumpers at the fuse box and it started. I examined the original relay and saw that one of the traces was blown (like a fuse). I soldered a bridge wire on the relay and reinstalled it leaving the cover off. With the fuse box jumpers removed, again, the relay clicks on but the car still won't start. I put the jumpers back on at the fuse box and it starts. While it was running I disconnected the jumpers and curiously, this time the car remained running. After a few moments I put my fingers on the exposed coil of the relay and it was too hot to keep my fingers on. Though I Assume now there is a short somewhere, I thought the re-repaired relay may still be failing as indicated by the seemingly intermittant function, I again replaced the relay with the same spare used before and this time it started and ran ( with no fuse box jumpers). For the heck of it, I pulled the relay, while the car was running, expecting it to stall, but it kept running!. Since then (two days), the car starts and runs as normal with NO RELAY in it at all. No dash or warning lights come on. If that isn't bizarre enough, I pulled BOTH fuses for the pumps, the car STARTS and STAYS RUNNING without the fuses OR the relay! I fear there is somethings about to burn up and leave me stranded but I'm at a loss as to what is wrong and how the car can even run without the relay or fuses. A few final observations are that when the power stage fuse is pulled it will stall as normal, and the main pump is running and quiet. The spare relays have the #s (004-038-04 / 3523804) on the covers and one has the silver blades, the original relay is #(004-038-01 / 1347764). I'm pretty sure I'm messing with the pump relay and not the overdrive relay (which I couldn't find!). It was located behind the center dashboard under the radio just to the left of the glovebox. Tomorrow I'll pull the fuse panel to see if I can find a short there, I'm hoping for some other suggestions or similar experiences. I'd like to solve this mystery before I get stranded!

Thanks!!

'89 240, and formerly: '86 240 diesel, Two '71 1800e's