Hey guys, I'm new here so forgive me if I put this in the wrong category or anything.

I have an 88 RS 5.0L V8 305.

Recently the car has been dying on me while I've been driving it. At first I thought it was the battery, but I got that replaced. Then I thought it was the alternator, but when the car dies, all the power is still on. The engine just dies but the power stays on. So now I'm thinking it has to do something with the fuel lines, fuel pump, fuel filter etc. Anyone else every have a similar problem?

Also, sometimes the car won't start immediately after I fill the tank with gas, until I wait 5 minutes. Could this also indicate there is a problem with a gas fuel line etc?

Thanks guys.

 

It could be the fuel pump getting hot after running for awhile (I've had that happen in a non-3rd gen car). Can you hear the pump running after you first turn the key to "run" after it won't start?

Often it is an ignition problem either with the distributor pick-up coil, distributor ignition module, or coil. When electronics heat up, a common failure mode is for the expansion to open a circuit. When cold and contracted, the circuit is complete again.

 

I'm not exactly sure what the pump sounds like. I'm taking it to the garage tomorrow morning so maybe they'll be able to figure out what's wrong. Are those parts expensive and hard to replace?

 

Replacing the fuel pump is labor-intensive because you have to drop the fuel tank, so yes, it's relatively expensive.

The ignition components aren't hard to replace, but unless the shop has the equipment to properly test each one, it can be hit & miss to figure out which one is causing the problem. Replacing good parts can get expensive, especially when the bad part still being in the system takes out the new part.