If you wish to read just my question go to the bottom. OK i have not been on here i quite a while but i have spent the last 3 days reading every result the search pulls up about fuel pressure problems with no luck. So here goes. My car (85 2.8l) starts first flick of the key 99% of the time rarely it will start and die but starts up no problem second try. Happens like 1-2 times a month. Last winter it started making a odd noise/vibration at idle like it was missing but my tach showed an even idle. i checked everything i knew how to and noticed that my dist seemed to be dropping spark, when using my timing light it would flash nice and even for a while then start missing on and off. 4-5 seconds of smooth and then maybe 1/4 of miss or some thing. not real long just enough to notice. so i replaced the the distributor. probably didn't need to do that far but i go overboard from time to time. it still dropped spark or whatever after the new dist but it seemed to have fixed the rough idle/vibration thing. I didn't notice the noise/vibration at idle anymore so i checked that as fixed. all summer long it had no problems. well about 2 weeks ago it started coming back, but i also started having problems with it sputtering when leaving a stoplight. I would hit the gas and it would sputter for like a second or two and them go like normal. It is now getting much worse, if i leave a stoplight it will do it till i go wot for a second. it is also jumping between 500 and 750 rpm at idle. i have no power and it is running hotter than normal. Its been hotter now on 80* days than it was on 100-106* days. OK so what i have checked. 1st general stuff. oil level Full and clean. i change my own oil and while it has been my car the oil has been changed every 2000 miles/3months up to 4000miles at the longest. (used to live in town but moved out to the country and forgot to watch mileage instead.) Coolant. was drained and replaced at the beginning of last winter. came out clean and green. Is full and i only add 50/50. Air filters. Good trans fluid. Full after 30 mins at 60mph so good and hot. Sensors: MAF. new 2 years ago disconnected battery and unhooked then started the car. No change. IAT. replaced 20 bux so no big deal and the old one had a piece of the connector broken. O2. replaced cause i had Major Exhaust leak and that usually screws my O2 up. IAC. Didnt do anthing to it recently but had Cleaned and reset in the past. TPS. adjusted to EXACTLY .54 volts at idle, was .43 and 4.7v(could not get any higher) at WOT was 3.5v. gave smooth increase from Idle to WOT no dead spots. Tested on top and middle wires. Checked spark plugs came out white which to me means its running lean but my dad says its just getting real good spark. They were just a tad bit more than .045 gap so i reset them and reinstalled. Timing: checked and it showed the mark between 8-10 so i put it on 10 (my timing mark is as wide as the distance between say 8-10 or 10-12 so do i put it on one side of the mark or right in the middle?) Exhaust. All sealed up and tight. Can hear the injectors over it. I even used my dads stethoscope and listened first to my moms new car and then mine and i could hear no difference except my Alt is loud as heck, same with my water pump and my power steering pump. herd nothing from the cold start and all six injectors had Smooth even ticks to them. I also checked for vacumme leaks and found none. but it still was reading only like 15-20 pounds but i could not get an accurate reading due to my PCV valve rattling. TOPIC QUESTION: I checked the Fuel pressure and it reads 45psi at idle. Blip the throttle and it jumps to 50 then drops to 30 then recovers to 45 and stays till you do it again. if you hold the throttle it jumps to fifty then drops to 30 and depending on how much i hold the throttle open goes as low as 25. If i shut the car off it takes maybe 1 min to hit 10 psi and then a wile longer to bleed all the way to 0. I replaced all 6 injectors with bosh pintle style ones cause in the past the fuel pressure would run like 48 or 58 (i cant remember which) and would stay there no matter what i did with the throttle. but would drain down the same as soon as i shut the car off. also does this if i turn the key on and the pump primes and even with the key on it bleeds off. i pulled all the injectors and the cold start out and set paper towels under each with them all connected to the fuel rail then primed and reprimed the system and none leaked a drop. So do i need a new FPR? or a new pump? or even just a new Fuel filter? I replaced the filter about a year ago.

If your injectors are good then I think it's most likely the fpr but even more likely that it's the pump. Jump the fuel pump test terminal with 12 volts and pinch off the return line. You should have steady pressure, listen for the pump but the guage will tell you for sure. Replace your filter first.

OK new pump and filter. now it does like it used to but only a bit lower of pressure. stays at 40-43ish at idle and while it was parked i could rev it and it would jump to 48-50 then drop back to 40-43 and hold there but it still bleeds off some where when i shut the car off.

On the good side it runs 1000000000000000 times better than it did before.

all the posts that said that getting to the tank wasn't hard, I agree......... as long as you don't have the 3 small track bar brace bolts snap off flush, or find out that some (@$*&(Q#$&(@*$&!(@#&()*@&# moron has welded the ENTIRE exhaust system into a single piece!! had to cut the pipe now i have to figure out how to fix it. i would just replace the tube under the body but they welded that to the y pipe and the muffler assembly.

do you know if there is a way to check the fuel pump with out a gauge?

Thanks...

No.
you can listen for it to prime and with the ignition turned to on but the car not started you could jumper from a 12volt source to the G terminal on the ALDL port to make it run so you could listen for it, but that will only tell you that its working and not really helpfull since the pump has to work to start the car. its just a matter of how well it works.

It turns out that my problem wasnt being caused by the pump. it was making it worse but oh well. i think i have an ignition problem. my bad coil must have taken my ICM with it.

I've got the same problem. but with mine i can ease on the throttle (like 5-10%) and the rpms will come up fine, any more throttle and she stumbles real bad. when i start her cold she doesn't want to get passed 1500-2000 rpms. my whole ignition side is brand new. new fuel filter.
I don't have any gauges to check fuel pressure. what else can i do to check it?