[Halon]

OK well I went to TNT today right here by my house and picked up a FP Gauge. I set the base pressure to about 37 with the vacuum hose unhooked. Here is what I've noticed so far, and also a few questions.

First, is the pump supposed to kick on and build up pressure when you just turn the key to the ON possition? Mine doesn't. But once I start cranking it over, the pressure seems to be up there by 30. I can't tell perfectly because I am in my car and the guage is under the hood. The car still struggles doesn't want to start, but sometimes it eventually does after trying for a few minutes.

Now when I shut it off after it's running, the fuel pressure immediately drops down to maybe like 25, and then slowly bleeds off to 0 after about 1-2 minutes. Is this normal?

Also, I did like what Hughes said, and used my logger to turn on the fuel pump. When I turn it on, the pressure jumps right up to 37 and stays there until the logger stops the test and the pump shuts off. As soon as the pump shuts off, the pressure starts to bleed off, and is at 0 in about 1-2 minutes. Again, is this normal? Am I loosing pressure somewhere or is this normal?

I went back by the fuel pump, and removed that trunk cover plate. I noticed some fuel around the fitting where the fuel pump/tank cover hard line connects to the rubber fuel line. I then loosened that connection, put some teflon tape on the thread, and tightened it nice and tight. I turned the pump on some more, and didn't notice any more leaks. I thought maybe this was where the pressure was leaking, but the car is still doing the same thing when I try to start it.

Over the last week I've been doing a lot of researching trying to figure out my starting problem, and as you can probably tell, I am thinking it has something to do with my fuel pressure being low. So to kinda of test this theory a little, what I did was grab my logger, turn the fuel pump on so that it built the 37psi, and then once the test was over, I immediately attempted to start the car. It started up right away like a champ! Hasn't started that nice in a long time.

I am thinking that right there is telling me that it is in fact a fuel pressure problem. Am I right thinking this? I have heard that the Walbro O-Rings tend to tear. I removed the fuel pump, and the O-ring was real nice and snug in there, in face it stayed in there when I removed the pump. I then got the O-Ring out and it looks like it is in great shape. I don't think any pressure was leaking past that thing, but tomorrow I am going to go pick up a new one because it's so cheap anyways.

Does anyone have any insight into this? Any idea why my pressure is dropping off like that? I'm thinking it probably did this with my stock FPR as well considering I had this same problem with my stock one. So I wouldn't think it's the FPR. Anyhow, any insight would be greatly appreciated.