Fuel Pump Relay question

[Chris Hall]

In trying to diagnose my stalling / no start then "all the sudden back
to normal" problem, I took the cover off of my Fuel Pump Relay to
watch it's operation.

I thought that -every- single time the key is switched to the "on"
position, the little electromagnet switch should close, but it doesn't
do it -every- time.  It just does maybe once out of 5 times.  Is this
the way it's supposed to work?  Maybe if the system is already
pressurized enough, there's no reason for it to switch on until the
engine is going?

OR, does that mean that my relay (who's solder points I've gone over
with a magnifying glass) is working intermittantly?

I'm gonna try to wrap a rubberband around the switch to keep it in the
"on" position (essentially making it a jumper) to see if I can get the
car to stall that way...

Oh... and I guess no one has gotten back to me on my previous post
where I asked if it is OK to bypass the "NCT" coolant temp sensor by
jumping the two wires to see if maybe that sensor is bad and causing
my car to shut down.  I know pulling the plug off of it while the car
is running kills the engine, so I was wondering if maybe it isn't
always sending a signal to the ECU and thus killing the engine...


I never had -any- of this crap happen on my 83...  *sigh*

-- 
Chris Hall
badcomrade at gmail.com
"making girls cry since 1974"