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So, I mentioned a few weeks ago in the Drivetrain forum that my car was b0rking up...like randomly hesitating sometimes. I thought maybe it was the tranny being weird, but today's events made me not think so.

Basically, I was driving along and I went to give it a touch to keep moving and the RPM's dropped suddenly and then popped right back up to where they should have been (like the car burped or something). Later, I was driving into a development and I was pulling up to the stop in neutral, and the car shut off. I refired without issue and went to the next stop sign where my car proceeded to shut off again. It refired and hasn't done anything weird since (I've driven about 12 miles since it last shut off randomly).

So, this "hesitation" leads me to believe it's engine related. I'm wondering if it's fuel pump going or filter, or just some bad gas? I am running a tank which is half-ethanol half-mtbe atm and maybe that's why it's acting weird? I'd like some input before I start taking things apart.

Status of my car: 150k on a 91L. Stock fuel pump and filter (afaik) (no fuel pump ground mod...is it worth doing?)

if you havn't changed the filter and you've had the car more than 10k miles, change it - because it likely hasn't been done.

fuel starvation will cause those issues.

Filter is on my list. How much of a pain is it to replace it?

Any other ideas? How about this fuel pump grounding mod?

I also noticed that the quitting and acting weird happens a lot more often during damp weather. Today my car was crapping out at stop signs again...

Ok, I searched and....where the hell is the fuel filter?

After I get done with this, I'm going to write a damn guide.

check for codes ... watch the tach next time it happens. try to notice if the tach drops off suddenly (like if you turned the key off), before the engine actauly dies. If so, you might have an intermitent crank sensor problem. Not all that uncommon.

Car did throw a CEL yesterday when it died, but it went away as soon as the car started back again. Hasn't thrown a code since and it's shut off on me 3 times and squirrelled under heavy acceleration twice.

Scratch the latest question...apparently I need to relieve fuel system pressure before I just yank the filter out. Any easier way to do it than to take out the back seat and undo the harness?

::EDIT:: Autozone manual, you lie. In the trunk? WTF.

So, I tore it all apart and I can't get the damn tubes off the filter. I wanna just cut them off but I don't think there would be enough length to them if I did. I guess I need to either figure out a way to get the tubes off, or I need to buy new ones.

::EDIT:: After a bit of yanking, tugging, and bits of gas spilling, the new filter is installed. I WILL write a guide on how to do it since the Manual is stupid and tells you the wrong thing.

Manarius wrote:Car did throw a CEL yesterday when it died, but it went away as soon as the car started back again. Hasn't thrown a code since and it's shut off on me 3 times and squirrelled under heavy acceleration twice.

So... why don't you pull the codes? Just connect the one-pin black connector under the knee bolster and see what the CEL flashes at you.

thefultonhow wrote:So... why don't you pull the codes? Just connect the one-pin black connector under the knee bolster and see what the CEL flashes at you.

Will do. Tomorrow.

The problem continues. I was driving along today..all well and good and the thing started acting up again. I was using light gas and the tach bounced off the zero a few times then went back to acting normal. So, I found a stop light and floored it. Through the middle of second it started acting weird again (tach dropping and then popping right back up where it belonged...jerking me around).

It's really starting to piss me off. I don't want it to bounce around and then just shut off on me and leave me stranded. Weird thing is that it doesn't seem to do it during neutral revs.

Fuel pump or what?

Look into the igniter, I am planning on doing the same. mine does a similar thing only it just hesitates badly. The previous owner moved the igniter and mounted it with the plug facing up so when it rains the car acts a little funny. look into that.

I'm using the Diamond coil pack Frank sold me over a year ago. I still have my stock one (it rides in my trunk), but I really like the Diamond.

Replaced coil pack. Same shit. Fuel pump going out symptoms? Sometimes happens on right turns.