Possible Dying Fuel Pump??

So i think my fuel pump is on its way out. I was taking the trip from NJ to Savannah, GA to school and me and my roommate left Nj on Fri at around 9am, and drove about 200 miles til we got to a section in maryland where we hit traffic....and the car started to loose all power, and it idled around 400rpms, then died...so i pushed it over to the side of the road and let it cool...and then it started up and i drove around another 30 miles, and it happened again when i hit traffic on the beltway around DC...so i figured it was a problem with the fuel pump overheating because it was overworked in traffic because it kept happening in traffic....so we finally got to VA and went to sleep...got up at 6am and go on the road, and drove 350 miles to Fayettesville, NC where it happened randomly while i was going 80mph on I-95....so we let it cool for 30 min or so, got into town and went to a mechanic who was convinced it was the fuel filter clogged...so he takes it out, and theres a tiny bit of water, and rust spects coming out...so we changed the filter, and drove away....not 15 miles later, it happened again...so we called AAA and they took us to the ford dealer in town where the service dept just closed...so we figured if we let it cool for like 4 hrs, we would be ok to take the remaining 200 miles to savannah...so at around 7pm, we get on the road, make it 30 miles, and it quits again....so we let it cool, drove into town and went to sleep...got up this morning at 5:30 and drove all the way down to savannah with no problems and made only one stop to get gas....

so the symptoms are stuttering after lots of driving where power cuts out, you cant rev any higher, and after about 4-5 seconds idling at 400ish rpms, it dies, and i get a check engine light....any suggestions? i think the fuel pump is on its way out and the only reason why this never happened before is cause ive never driven more than 2 hrs in my car at one time....please help!!

ttt

urban96 said:

can you hear the fuel pump?

is it still the stock one? sounds like its time for a new one.

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yea, you can hear it when you start it up, but it sounds different that it used to...it used to be louder at startup....and yes its the stocker...

HISSIN50 said:

If not mentioned, pull codes and check fuel pressure when the car runs well and when it craps out.

If it's the pump (the symptoms do fit - the diaphram gets hot and limp) I'd be sure to try and get a pump from a reputable vendor. There are a lot of fake Walbros out there.

I got mine from Dave at JD's - a great guy and place to deal with.

Good luck.

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yea i need to have the codes pulled on it...the thing is, its very intermittent, and shops have a hard time diagnosing intermittent stuff like that...remember when the stator in my dizzy went out and you told me what the problem was? and i went to shops and both told me it was something else...and i changed the dizzy out and it fixed the problem...

the thing is, when its rested for a long period of time (like from 7pm-6am) it drives fine cause we got left at 6am and drove for 225 miles with no problems...

if they pull codes on it, will that tell me if the pump is shot? because i do get a check engine light when it falls on its face and dies

HISSIN50 said:

You might not get a direct code, but lean codes can be suggestive of a bad pump.

I'm with you - you're just going to have to try and do some quick diagnostics when it takes a dump. 2 mins worth of testing with a FP gauge and a means of testing spark (a spark tester at the parts store is 10 bucks or less, or a timing light, or an old plug all work well for this test) will be quite telling.

Because you can drive for so long, it might not be the pump. All The trash in the line (that was a relative amount of crap you had a come out - as I recall we use gerator pumps and they HATE having trash run through them) could be affecting the pump or have taken it to its last leg.
In my experience when a pump starts to go, the first day you can go some miles and then thereafter, the car starts crapping out after 15 mins of driving, and about 3-5 mins after each cooldown thereafter.

You could also have a failing TFI module or some other anomaly. Since the CEL comes on when the issue arises, that should be telling.

Good luck.

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yea, it would only run a long distance if it cooled overnight....i mean i left it for 4 hrs in the ford lot thinking it would have cooled down enough, and i only got about 20 miles after that...

ttt

HISSIN50 said:

Michael, we can all guess all we want, but it will take a few minutes of diagnostics to know anything. Otherwise, it's just us guessing, which really won't help ya bud.

Good luck.

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yea, thats what i figured...if only autozone pulled codes on ODB1 vehicles and not just ODB2, then i could have codes pulled for free...

HISSIN50 said:

You can pull codes for free - you need a paperclip or a bobbypin from one of your girlie friends.

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oh yea, thats right...do you happen to have the link to how to do that? i remember reading it a while back, but i cant remember how it was done...thanks man, i appreicate it!