Weird problem on the way to work - Is my fuel pump going out?

[Chythar]

So, I'm driving to work as usual. All of a sudden, the car won't accelerate. I press the gas pedal, nothing happens. The car is decelerating slowly, the rpm's are dropping slowly as well, but I don't have a check engine light. I pop the tranny in neutral and try to start the car, but it won't restart. I turn the ignition to off, then try to start the engine, nothing. It turns over, but won't start. By the time I'm at around 20mph, power steering is out and the rpm's are nearly gone. Once the rpm's drop below 400 or so, the engine finally dies.

Once the engine dies, THEN I can restart the car. It restarts right away and I drive off as if nothing happened. This happened Thursday on the way home, and then this morning. It happened maybe twice in the past year, but that's it. I've checked for codes, but haven't been able to read any.

The fuel pressure regulator is new and hasn't given me any issues so far. I'm not leaking any fuel, and the engine runs smooth otherwise. Is my fuel pump going out, or is there something else I can check?

 

[xkuntrycowboyx]

check ur fuel filter first. also, in the trunk, if you've messed around back there ever, on the drivers side, behind the lining panels theres a ...(i think it's the gas reset thing) but if that gets unplugged it will crank and never turn over. or if it's loose, it may wiggle and kill the car. check those wires if you've ever removed the liner panels and messed back there. But deff check ur fuel filter too.

as far as the fuel pump... i doubt it. It is either good or its bad, no in between. I talked to many ppl about this, and they all say soo too, if it's good it works, if it's bad, it won't work at all. ...make sure theres no loose wiring directly to the pump either.

 

[SeventyMach1]

I agree. Check for loose wiring & check the fuel filter. It DOES sound like the symptoms of a bad fuel pump ..... but like said .... there will be no "in between".

The fuel pump went out in my Alero just a few weeks ago while cruising down the interstate. The car reacted EXACTLY how you described it. The car would start & run for about 5 second intervals ..... but then choke itself down to so low of an RPM, it would die again. The car WOULD NOT, however, start & stay running enough to drive (but your's did). It's definitely something with the fuel system man ..... but don't go repplacing the fuel pump until you KNOW it's bad.

 

[Blackened302]

pull the codes even if the MIL (check engine light) isn't on. also, i agree w/ the fuel pump reset switch in the trunk. try that, too.

 

[Chythar]

check ur fuel filter first. also, in the trunk, if you've messed around back there ever, on the drivers side, behind the lining panels theres a ...(i think it's the gas reset thing) but if that gets unplugged it will crank and never turn over. or if it's loose, it may wiggle and kill the car. check those wires if you've ever removed the liner panels and messed back there. But deff check ur fuel filter too.

as far as the fuel pump... i doubt it. It is either good or its bad, no in between. I talked to many ppl about this, and they all say soo too, if it's good it works, if it's bad, it won't work at all. ...make sure theres no loose wiring directly to the pump either.

I know about the fuel kill switch, I'll check the connections. I've had a clogged fuel filter before, it usually kills performance completely; not just once in a while. It's worth a check if nothing else works. I'll trace the fuel filter wiring too and see what I find.

 

[Chythar]

I agree. Check for loose wiring & check the fuel filter. It DOES sound like the symptoms of a bad fuel pump ..... but like said .... there will be no "in between".

The fuel pump went out in my Alero just a few weeks ago while cruising down the interstate. The car reacted EXACTLY how you described it. The car would start & run for about 5 second intervals ..... but then choke itself down to so low of an RPM, it would die again. The car WOULD NOT, however, start & stay running enough to drive (but your's did). It's definitely something with the fuel system man ..... but don't go repplacing the fuel pump until you KNOW it's bad.

Come to think of it, I had the fuel pump die on an 87 Taurus I used to have. In that case, the fuel pump died and so did the engine. Of course, it wouldn't start again afterwards.

This reminds me of another situation I had with that Taurus, which had much the same symptums. The Taurus had a defect in the gas tank level/bobble/whatever, where it would block fuel flow if the tank went below 1/4 tank. It would react the same way, no acceleration. But for the Taurus, pumping the gas pedal would jar the bobble loose, and you'd just drive on. The Stang doesn't react to anything in this situation. Could be blocked fuel flow, I suppose.

 

[Chythar]

pull the codes even if the MIL (check engine light) isn't on. also, i agree w/ the fuel pump reset switch in the trunk. try that, too.

already tried, still no codes. I'll try again when I get home, just in case.

 

[Chythar]

I had to send the 'stang to my mechanic for other reasons. He found a set of wires that got too close to the exhaust and fried. One of those wires is for the fuel pump. So, it looks like an intermittent short caused the fuel pump to cut out.

Thanks to all who posted for helping out.

 

[ROLLIN5.0]

I was going to say, definately electrical/computer related. My Dad had a 82 280ZX that only had like 60k miles on it. It was freakin cherry, but every once in a while you'd be sitting at the light, and it would die. Crank, and crank, no fire. 30 seconds later it would start and cruise on down the road. It ended up being a brain for some area of the engine management. Can't remember now (I was 15 at the time). I've had two other cars do similar things with corroded electrical connectors, chaffed wires, etc. You have to be careful with that stuff. Glad you were able to locate it.
Brandon

 

[Chythar]

I was going to say, definately electrical/computer related. My Dad had a 82 280ZX that only had like 60k miles on it. It was freakin cherry, but every once in a while you'd be sitting at the light, and it would die. Crank, and crank, no fire. 30 seconds later it would start and cruise on down the road. It ended up being a brain for some area of the engine management. Can't remember now (I was 15 at the time). I've had two other cars do similar things with corroded electrical connectors, chaffed wires, etc. You have to be careful with that stuff. Glad you were able to locate it.
Brandon

Update to an old post - Rollin5.0 was right; it was an electrical issue, and wasn't the fried wires that I thought it was. Problem came back a few days after my last post. The shutoff issue finally happened often enough that my mechanic was able to trace it back to a bad relay in the CCRM. It was clicking off and shutting the whole engine AND computer down. One $80 part later, and the issue hasn't happened for over two weeks. So far, so good.

 

[gcomfx.com]

Wow, weird stuff...

 

[HISSIN50]

That is interesting - you should have gotten a primary or secondary fuel system code (it is 95/96 on a fox - cant recall the code for an SN).

Glad you got it though.

This also shows the importance of making sure the fuel tank is vented properly (some like to run a manual vent at the tank, rather than use the EVAP system) - some fuel fumes, hot exhaust and/or spark from those wires = teh lose.

Anyhow, glad it is fixed.