motor-'87 350tpi.
A few days ago I started experiencing some weird problems. It was like there was a dead spot in the rpm band. At part throttle it would cut out, almost like I was out of gas. At about full throttle it would act like normal, but with a big power loss. Then, on the third day, I was driving down the highway, and it went totally out. It would sputter and the tach would shoot up and down when I was hitting the gas. Then it finally died. It would turn over fine, and start for a few seconds, spit and sputter, and die. The next morning I changed the fuel filter. It started right up and ran fine. I drove it for about six miles, and it happened again. I'm not sure if it just does it when it gets warm or what. It seems like it's not getting fuel. I thought injectors or pump, but I don't know why it would still run alright sometimes. I don't wanna take it to the shop, but I might have to if I can't figure out what's wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Sounds like the fuel pump to me. Have you checked the fuel pressure?

 

Yeah I second the fuel pump. When mine went bad the car was running fine. Then when i went to start it, it wouldn't start for a day, then it started and ran fine. Then it died again later that day. Those fuel pumps can get pretty wacky some times.

 

Change Zee pump

 

I dont know about you guys but before i took an undertaking like that i would be damn sure thats the problem. Why dont you get a fuel pressure gauge hook it up and put it in the windshield to see what it is doing when your driving. If it is spiking then theres your answer. But i do agree with guys! That is exactly what it sounds like.

 

one of my friends cars was acting all messed up like that sometimes it would run ok and sometimes it wouldn't run at all
and it was the rubber hose inbetween the sock and the pump in the tank

 

injectors maybe
they make a good point with the fuel pump answer, but my 89 formula 350 was doing the same thing, and it turned out that 3 injectors were going/gone bad on the car. sometimes it worked, sometimes is stumbled, then it sat for a day and was fine for a bit. and yes, at a certain rpm range the car seemed like it was all messed up. i don't remember which numbers they were that had gone, but i had a local shop do diagnostics on it, because like you i didn't want to have to do the feul pump unless absolutly sure about it. just my 2 cents

 

how would i go about hooking on of those up?

 

I would also check all of my sensors and the relays too. It could be your MAF, TPS, or IAC. My car was acting up after i cut out my MAF screens and gutted my airboxes, but got a new MAF and its running fine now.

 

You just screw it into your fuel rail test port it is a little valve stem at the rear of your pass fuel rail. The gauge is about $30 at any auto store but if you want to work on fi your going to need to get this sooner or later.

 

where is the feul rail test port and whut do you mean by butif you want to work on fi your going to need to get this sooner or later

 

i should probably start another post cause I know this is a pain, but I was wondering what kind of work it takes to get a fuel pump replaced. Remove gas tank???

 

Yep you pretty much have to drop the tank. NOT FUN. We had to do it in my friends 91 bird. It took us between 6-8 hours. Knowing what i know now i bet i could do it in 4 to 5 but my methods are not exacly the safest way. I still strongly recommend you test that fuel pressure. There are so many other things it could be and i would hate for you to go through all that work and get nothing for your efforts. It could be anything from a malfunctioning maf to a bad computer or even a line grounding out somewhere.

 

Yes, definitely check your fuel pressure. When my car was acting kind of weird like that, it ended up being my injectors. Test the resistance of your injectors. I forgot what they are supposed to ohm out at, but a few of mine were no where near what they were supposed to be. So I swapped in a set of new injectors and the car fired right up. If someone could post the target resistance for fuel injectors that would be great. Try to test everything you can before doing the fuel pump, because doing the fuel pump requires dropping down the gas tank, which requires dropping down the rear end. So, good luck. Let us know what happens.

 

Well, guess what? I took it to the shop, and you know what they told me? MAF sensor. Not broken, just dirty. Probably cause my "custom" cold air setup was a little loose, and I don't have screens on my MAF either. I wonder how they cleaned it? Oh well, atleast it wasn't the fuel pump.