Chrysler Repair: fuel pump, chrysler engines, domestic engines

Question
i have a 94 chrysler talon, standard, with about 180k miles on it and when i turn the key to the on position i don' t here that humming sound, and ultimately the car won't start. i would like to know could this be the fuel pump or something else. any info is helpful thank you

Answer
Hi dt,
I don't have any manuals for the talon and haven't really ever seen one up close. If it works like the domestic Chrysler engines, the fuel pump should usually come on for 1-2 seconds when you switch the ingnition to run, and then it will not start again till you move to the starter postion but you can't hear it due to the noise. If you aren't hearing it at all, then you would still want to see if it is indeed getting 12v or not, and that same 12v is usually also seen at the + post of the spark coil. So that would be a good place to look for the answer to that. If you don't get 12v at the coil for the same 1-2 seconds then the possibility is that the autoshutdown relay is not working properly or the engine controller isn't energiziing it. But if it gets voltage, and you probably would also want to verify voltage to the pump is present during cranking, then I would agree that pump is bad. I am assuming the set up from the domestic engines in this analysis.
So give it a try and let me know what you find out.
Roland