Well I just had my 92 3.1L V6 flat bedded home. I was driving it and it was running fine and then it just died. It fired right back up fine but then later died right down the road. I got it to a gas station where it died again. Now I have to pump the gas hard to get it to fire and lots of smoke pours out of the exhaust. It will stay running as long as you stay on the gas, but as soon as you let off it just dies. No check engine light on, temps good, and oil pressure good. Its got new wires on it, so I was gonna start by changing the distributor and plugs. Is this a common problem? What should I be looking at? Thanks

 

greetings to a fellow 3rd Gen V6 owner! I'm no pro at the mechanical side of this, but, I know the color of the smoke could tell you something, i.e. black smoke tends to indicate oil in the combustion chamber, whitish gray smoke could indicate water/coolant in there. I would check out the exhaust pipe and see what kind of residue exists. Good luck!

 

Id say your fuel pump died. If you have to pump your gas to get it to run then its your fuel pump. The reason it stays going if you hold on the gas is because it creates a vacuum type of effect and sucks the fuel in. I have to no clue how to check if a fuel pump works or not. Im 99% positive that our cars have in-tank pumps so u will most likely have to drop the tank. Before you do that check to see if there is any leaks anywhere and also have you changed your fuel filter recently? Might be clogged. Also try putting some dry gas in your car...maybe some condensation got in there and its causing your car to stall out. My 2 cents are still on the fuel pump.

 

Whats the average life of the stock fuel pump... any average? (in miles)
how long does it take to get it changed by a home mechanic?

 

i had the same problem a couple of weeks ago. i would have to put it in nuetral when coming to a stop and hold my foot on the gas pedal and keep it reved up. it ended up being my IAC (Idle Air Control) and a coolant temp. sensor that went bad. What happened was the sensor went bad causing the car to run VERY rich and it clogged up the IAC. You can pull it out and spray the heck out of it with some throttle body cleaner and see if it helps any. Don,t touch the fuel pump till you rule everything out, unless you you can check your fuel pressure at the fuel rail.

 

Ahh yess...glad you caught that. I forgot to add all the sensors that go bad on these cars. Like ^he said the fuel pump is a last resort. Dont go droppin your tank yet. Thats a last resort. As for the life of one it all depends on what kind of gas your running and weather and all that. Id say on average it should last the life of the motor tho. Like i said it really all depends tho.

 

if u clean the iac pintle and decide hey wait the port where it goes has lots of carbon in it and u use a solvent type cleaner and not remove it and thoroughlly clean it
be fully prepared that ur car will not start(it will start then run rough then it will not start) ask me why i tell u
carbon is conductive so it shorts out ur plugs found that out the hard way after buying me a fuel pressure gauge a fuel pressure regulator a spark control module new cap and bug and a new set of plugs to go with the new set of plugs and wires i had just bought
Moral to the story always check for fire with ur plugs not a screwdriver hahahahahahahaha