So heres the deal.... I go to take my buddy to drop his car off to get some tint put on. After we drop his car off I noticed I had under a 1/4 tank of gas so I pull over and put 30 bucks in. we run some errands, everything is fine, then we go back to pick up his vehicle and I shut my car off. when i get back in and go to start it, it barely starts and is hardly running, it sounded absolutely terrible, like the car was burping or something. Anytime I would try to give it gas it would just die. So we let it sit for like 20 min and then it starts right up, i drive 15 miles and am almost home when the car dies again, it repeats the process of barely starting and dying whenever i give it gas. I then noticed that there seems to be some weird humming noises coming from the fuel pump area??? But once again after about 15 min. it starts up and it ran perfectly fine the rest of the way home... So my question is whats going on? Is my fuel pump bad??? or did i get ahold of some really nasty gas??? I am hoping someone has had the same or similar issue.... Keep in mind I live in tucson az and its around 110 degrees right now so maybe something is just getting really tired because of the heat? Any help would be greatly appreciated... from what I have read it looks like the fuel tank has to be dropped in order to replace the pump... right????
Your symptoms sound typical of a fuel pump that is on its last leg. If you have a way of testing pressure at the fuel rail, then do so. The tank does have to be dropped in order to swap the pump out. It's not hard at all to do. The worst part is removing the rubber hose that connects the filler neck to the tank, it's on there really tight and you have limited room to work with due to the rear suspension being right in that area.
2 stupid questions, but I have to ask... lol
1. Was it diesel... lol
2. was it premium
I forgot to add that I've never seen a case of "bad gasoline" in my life. My 1993 Grand Prix has been filled up at probably 1,000+ different gas stations in its lifetime and never once has it ran any different than normal....and I have over a quarter million miles on the car. The only time I've ever had a problem with gasoline was when a car had been sitting several years(4-5yrs!).
It better not have been diesel. there was not even diesel available at the pump and I did select premium. I'm really thinking its the fuel pump... after the car cools down and sits for awhile it starts and runs just fine... So I'm in agreement thats its probably on its last leg.... I personally dont own any tools so im sure im going to have to pay someone to fix it :( shitty! I have to go out of town for work tomorrow but i am planning on taking it down to a local shop on wednesday to have it fixed....
Dane, you don't have a jack + jackstands, a screwdriver, and a ratchet + a few sockets? That's all you need to do the fuel pump. OR you could get some cheap rhino ramps instead of the jack + jackstands. For about $40 in cheap tools, you could change it yourself. A shop will probably charge at least $150ish(or MORE depending on how many hours they're going to bill you for) to do it. Just throwing that out there in case you have the time to do it yourself and want to save some money. ;) You'll probably lose a few lbs in that Arizona heat completing the job though. :laugh:
Alright I think I am going to give this a shot. There is a buddy of mine with tons of tools and we both have Wednesday off so as long as he agrees to help we should be good lol. I located the thread about how to install a walbro fuel pump. Should I use that as a guide??? Anyone have any tips or suggestions for me? I appreciate it guys....
Yeah, Kenny's writeup there about the fuel pump serves as a great guide. I forgot to mention that you'll need at least two wrenches in addition to the other tools I mentioned....
Hey guys, as i mentioned I had to go out of town for work today... i drove my car about 10 miles to my co-workers house and the car ran perfectly fine... we went to our confrence, came home, and then i got in the car and drove it back to my house... once again it drove perfectly fine. whats going on??? :( there were no funny sounds and the car didnt stutter at all. No obviously it was fairly cool both this morning and tonight when i drove it home... so is it possible the 110 degree heat is playing a factor in this problem? and maybe its only acting up when its really hot out.... just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas for me... i obviously dont wanna replace the fuel pump or pay someone to replace when that may not even be my issue????
Test the fuel pressure and verify that you HAVE pressure when the problem surfaces. If you still have pressure when you have this problem, you need to start looking at other things. When the fuel pump died in my 1993, I had the same issue. My pump died when I drove the car to my brother's place. I went outside and the car wouldn't start, so I had to go get a truck + trailer to trailer the car back to my place. I ran the car on starter fluid in order to pull it up on the trailer. :icon_razz: