I have an 1984 z-28 with a LG4 engine and a 5 speed trans. I was out driving today, and the car was running great. I stopped at subway, started it up, pulled out onto the road and it started acting sluggish and then stalled. I checked under the hood, and everything seemed okay. After about 10 minutes, it started and drove fine. It was hot out today (around 90), what could be causing this?

 

Just to add, I don't think it is bad gas. I gassed up at the same place as always, and I drove the car about 10 miles after I got it restarted without a problem.

 

Anybody?

 

You haven't by any chance changed your fuel pump lately have you?

One of these cars' favorite forms of mischief is for the fuel in the pump and the lines near it to get so hot, that when it reaches the carb and escapes from 7 psi to 0 psi, it immediately boils. When this happens gas will spew all out of every hole in the carb, all of which go into the intake. So all this gas dumps into the the engine which of course gets flooded. Usually it will run like dog plop for a little while, blow out black smoke and maybe miss, then clear itself up when cooler fuel reaches that part of the system. If it kills the motor completely, you can get it to restart by holding the gas pedal to the floor while cranking it, which will let in enough air to maybe clear some of the excess fuel out to where it will run.

Leaving the gasket off of the fuel pump aggravates it.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

I've owned the car for two years, but the person who had the car before me replaced the fuel pump with an electic one. How can I tell if the fuel pump is going bad?