Stang broke down today... what happened?

Damn, this couldn't have come at a worse time...

I was driving this morning and when I was pulling out of the driveway this morning, I noticed that the car felt REALLY sluggish. It felt like it was engine braking on me.

I got to the top of a hill about 3 minutes later and started to go down. Right after I got to the top of the hill, I noticed that my gas pedal was only working sporadically, where I'd press it in several times but it would only go every 2 or 3 presses. I finally got it going again, but as I started to head towards a stop sign, I felt the car losing lots of power. I looked down and almost thought for a second that the car had managed to shake itself out of third gear it was bucking so bad. I shoved it back in, although I'm not positive that it actually came out.

As I came to the stop sign, my engine was making almost no noise, and right before I pushed in the clutch to stop, I got a CEL, a battery light, and then the car died on me. The car cranked, but wouldn't turn over.

I let it rest for about 20 minutes on the side of the road, and tried to start it up. It turned over, and it drove, but it felt VERY weird. I granny-shifted it the mile and a half home, but when I'd shift, and let the clutch out, the RPMs would be higher in the newer gear than the one before it... confused yet?

Also, if I drove in 3rd gear, and let off the gas pedal, the car would sort of hard-lock, like jolting right before you stall the car, and the only way to keep that was to keep the RPMs up, or drive in 2nd gear. I didn't feel like getting on it to try it out.

My thoughts: the fuel pump's going bad? Since I've bought it, it's gone from just being loud enough to hear it with the windows open to loud enough to hear it from outside the garage. I don't really know though. I talked to my dad, and he said that because it cranks, it's either electrical or fuel related. What do you guys think?

Note: On Sunday I had CELs probably 3 or 4 times that day, and probably once every week before that. I'm gonna have my friend pull codes while it's being looked at.
 
Until we know what codes were triggered, anything we say will be mere speculation. Have you changed the fuel filter since you got the car? What work if any have you done or know for sure that was done? Get back to us with that info, especially the codes.
 
Dump the codes and see what the computer says is wrong…

Here's the link to dump the computer codes with only a jumper wire or paper clip and the check engine light, or test light or voltmeter. I’ve used it for years, and it works great.

See http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/
OR
See http://www.mustangworks.com/articles/electronics/eec-iv_codes.html

IF your car is an 86-88 stang, you'll have to use the test lamp or voltmeter method. There is no functional check engine light on the 86-88's except possibly the Cali Mass Air cars.

Codes have different answers if the engine is running from the answers that it has when the engine isn't running. It helps a lot to know if you had the engine running when you ran the test.

Trouble codes are either 2 digit or 3 digit, there are no cars that use both 2 digit codes and 3 digit codes.

For those who are intimidated by all the wires & connections, see http://www.actron.com/product_detail.php?pid=16153 for what a typical hand scanner looks like. Normal retail price is about $30 or so at AutoZone or Walmart.

Or for a nicer scanner see http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?3829 – It has a 3 digit LCD display so that you don’t have to count flashes or beeps.. Cost is $35.