How much gas do you keep in the tank? 1/2? 1/4? 1/8?

The issue sounds heat related with respect to failure to start.
If you drive it somewhere and turn off the ignition, it sounds like something related to the starting sequences/process may be quickly heating up and either going open circuit or malfunctioning in some way. After 2 hours elapses, things have cooled down and whatever may have temporarily gone open circuit has reestablished connection.

If not hearing the fuel pump is a 100% of the time indication that it will not start, can you verify this by attaching a fuel pressure gauge and capturing the pressure at key on and when cranking?

There are times when the fuel pump will not go through the priming sequence. Such as when the fuel system pressure is still high enough to start the vehicle.

I don't have nearly the amount of hands-on experience as most of the guys on here, but this sounds like a temperature and time dependent electrical issue that only occurs once the vehicle is turned off and things are warm/hot.

What happens if you drive a loop long enough to heat up the engine and such and return home without turning the vehicle off, and letting it idle in your driveway? Does it keep running? Does it eventually stall and if it does does it restart?

Also, have you checked for spark during the crank no start condition?

Could even be as simple as a battery cable connection expanding causing a poor connection that will not support the full amount of current needed to crank the starter and supply the ignition control module with what it needs to operate properly

 

When it does start and I drive it the amount of time driven doesn't matter. Nor does the amount of time it will do a crank no start afterwards. Some times it's minutes and it will start again some times its days before it will start again. So far nearly a week is the longest it will do a crank no start. Shortest amount of time is 15 minutes. When it does the crank no start I check the valve on fuel rail and it has no fuel coming out. I plan on trying to start it in a few minutes. I did kind of notice that if I disconnect battery it tends to want to start (just a theory) I'll have to do some more research on that.

 

Your symptoms sound so similar to the problem I had with a different car I owned. And with that car, it turned out to be the fuel pump. It wasn't until after I'd paid a shop $400 to drop the tank and replace it that I discovered the inexpensive repair not much talked about at automotive shops. An external fuel pump. The one I eventually went with when it failed again (shop had used a bad used one) cost under $100 and worked fine until I sold that car. Easily installed by a DIY'er in the feed hose.

If your tests lead you to the fuel pump, consider an external. Thousands of them are sold to race car drivers as they prefer them to be accessible. Also keep in mind that there is probably a fail safe fuel shut off switch. Not sure the L200 has one for sure but check the drawings to see. They can go bad, the wiring can be damaged and terminals can become corroded in the wiring from the engine compartment back to the fuel tank.

 

So I spent the morning dropping my tank checking out the wiring everything seemed okay for me I tried to see if I could get the fuel pump to engage and it did but I did not have any fuel in the tank for it to push through so I didn't want to see if it would start or not obviously there's no fuel I didn't want to do that so I put it back up and now it won't engage again so it's got to be a wiring issue just got to figure out where but I'm tired of taking this damn tank down

 

Where did you install the inline pump at? I'm very curious about this option!I am so over dropping this tank

 

You find the suction hose underneath and follow it along to somewhere that you can cut it and insert the pump and the filter. Then you need to find an IGN wire somewhere. Ground is the chassis so you can just use a self tapping screw for that, but you can run both wires up to the engine compartment too. There should be two hoses though, one for supply, and one for return and you want the pump in the supply (suction) hose. Note that in your case you don't need to worry about the in-the-tank pump blocking flow because it still sometimes starts and runs. There are sections of metal pipe use too but there'll be sections of hose.

 

@jim,......

Have you ever personally done this modification to a Saturn L series?

 

I have not. I added one to a 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis, and a '94 Freightliner chassis. Then I've seen them installed on modified race cars at the Portland SCCA racetrack. I haven't noticed, when on the rack, whether it would be an easy or difficult job on my '03 L200 as I haven't needed to so far. OP has dropped his tank so could probably tell us if it's done easily on the L200. First thing I'd do before that is to borrow or buy a fuel pressure gage and check what the pressure is out of the tank. An external pump for the L200 would likely be in the $200 range for the high pressure needed. Plus the fittings. I was reading back through this thread and it seems as though OP already changed his fuel pump 3 mos ago so that kind of eliminates the need for a new one. Sounds more like something is preventing it from operating. Bad wiring or a control. I'm certainly no expert but try to help where I can.

 

I would locate and repair the fault in the factory wiring.

 

I appreciate it!