New 87 GN owner. 58,000 miles. Car is bone stock (even stock airbox!). 3 weeks ago, with 3 gallons of fuel in tank, car simply stopped running while leaving a light under normal acceleration. I figured low fuel. Filled up; no problem. Yesterday, in stop n go traffic, car stopped running again. (This time AFTER a fill up: 17 gallons in tank) Let sit for 10 minutes and it was fine all night. This morning it died a 3rd time and I had to tow it home.
Added HEET figuring water in tank. Didn't help. Replaced fuel filter just in case. Didn't help either. When fuel filter was off, primed fuel pump and fuel squirted about 10-12 inches from fuel line. (Figured that was good pressure) Pressed in valve at end of fuel rail, it squirted fuel all the way to the air intake box. I'm assuming thats the normal amount of pressure seeing as how I have no gauge.
Car won't stay running. Fires up and dies. If I pump throttle while starting car will stay sputtering until I stop pumping. Let it sit for about 20 minutes and it started up fine. Idled great for about 30 seconds after which it started sputtering again. Died 30 seconds later.
Im perplexed. Any ideas / suggestions would be much appreciated! I thought maybe the fuel pump, but it seems to generate SOME pressure!?!? Thanks in advance.
Heh eh heh ... help?
That car looks great, but bothers me when it just sits there, LOL.
Thanks again!
I think you're definitely on the right track with the fuel system. Narrowing it down might be a pain. First thing I'd consider is that maybe you just have some bad fuel in that tank. It's unlikely if you purchased the fuel from a trusted source, but I'd eliminate that before I went further.
After you eliminate the fuel as a problem, I'd definitely start looking at the delivery mechanism. You'll need a fuel pressure gauge to really get anywhere there. You can buy one at any decent tool store (Sears, for example) pretty inexpensively. It's a great tool to have around when working with an FI car.
You might also try pulling codes in case the ECU has any interesting hints for you.
Of course, with something like the fuel pump, which needs to be upgraded anyway. . . If it were mine, I'd probably just depressurize the system, drain all the fuel, drop the tank and put in a hot new fuel pump assembly. Then I'd replace the filter, drop in some known good gas, and give it a shot. You could spend a lot of time and energy diagnosing it and my logic is that it won't be wasted work if you upgrade it anyway.
Just my 2 cents,...Im not at all saying jason is in anyway wrong but, with my experience I would check the cat converter they can make your car not run at all if clogged!!!
Also your crank sensor,...is there? broke? cracked?
check you IAC adjustment screw,and voltage on your TPS they have to be a perfect balance or you will never get it to run right.
and jason is deffinetlt right about the fuel gauge,..you just gotta have one! stock pressure should be about 36 or so w/ vac line off!
GOOD LUCK!!!