89 XJ Fuel Pump Problems

I have a 89 XJ and it set for about a week and when I went to start it started hard and was backfiring when I tried to drive it, it acted like it didnt have any power. A week or so later I went to start it and it would not start and the fuel pump sounded bad (Grinding type sound). Last night I put in a new fuel pump and it wont pump either so we checked the power with a test light at the fuel pump, the light was dim like the pump was getting low voltage (The batteries were dead in the voltmeter!). Where would be a good place to start to figure what is wrong?

There is a ballast resistor inside the engine bay, drivers side wheel well, near the top. White ceramic rectangle with a spade connector on each end. One end should have battery voltage, the other end should be a couple/few volts less (9-10V). Should have the same 9-10 volts at the pump, with the key in the run possition.
During cranking the resistor is bypassed, to give the fuel pump a little extra juice.
Probably the balast resistor, fuel pump relay (3rd from the front/with A/C, near the battery under the black cover), a connector or the ground. You can jump the ballast resistor for a test, won´t hurt anything. Can swap the A/C relay for the fuel pump relay for a test.
Take the fuel filter out and dump it into a bucket, to see what comes out, could be plugged with junk.
There is a fuel pressure, test port on the fuel rail. With the ignition on, fuel should squirt out of the test port, pretty fast (be carefull).