hi, i desperately need help troubleshooting what is wrong with my car here...so driving to work this morning was fine, just like always is, when all of a sudden as i'm going roughly 35-40, the engine starts sputtering like almost turning off but like it still wants to stay on and eventually stalled. i turned it back on and it sputtered out again. first i thought my engine was toast, maybe timing chain issue or something, but after i turned the car back on and tried to give it some gas, it was still sputtering as if it would work but was choking on something. i am no mechanic but i know enough about cars to kind of get some kind of idea thats pretty close to what is wrong, but i'm not sure.

anyway, i was far from home and had no choice (or no money) but to try and limp the car all the way back about 30 miles. the car actually made the trip. i never got above 35mph because the car could not accelerate or would take a very long time to do so. if i would hold down the throttle the car would choke and shut off. if i would completely let off the throttle, the car would choke and shut off. my only way to keep it alive and moving was to pump the gas pedal repeatedly in a timely fashion to mantain movement. as soon as i'd let off for too long, it would stall again. for red lights, i'd just shift into neutral and keep pumping the throttle to keep it alive, then shift back into drive again when the light turns green.

so correct me if i'm wrong, but i really don't think this problem has anything to do with the engine, the motor still turns over and everything is fine except it just seems like its not getting enough gas...i've had this problem before over the last 4 months, but never this bad. at first it would only stall once a week or so and if i'd pump the throttle and get fuel running through it, everything would be fine. lately, for the last couple weeks, it will almost stall and i'd have to pump the gas pedal repeatedly for a few seconds before it would be fine again, and i'd have to do this probably once a day, usually in the morning. and then today its completely screwed now, no matter how much i pump the pedal, all thats going to happen is it will keep moving, but at a jumpy rate and at any moment will shut off again. i replaced the fuel filter thinking it may be clogged, and its still the same, so i'm pretty sure that narrows it down to the pump, right?

 

It could be... It could also be your throttle position sensor or your fuel pressure regulator or (Maybe) clogged fuel injectors. I would rent/borrow/buy a fuel pressure gauge and check your fuel pressure.

 

Or the fuel pump relay. That turned out to be my problem.....