Fuel pump going bad?

[wmdavis007]

Well first off I need to go back about a month. Me and my wife drove the vert to a neighboring town to go out to eat...the town is about 25 miles away. Soon as we got in the city limits my car started sputtering when I would give it gas...I was almost on empty so I thought it was either about to run out of gas or I was just getting some trash or water. I stopped and filled it up and the problem went away. Fast forward about two more weeks, I was low on gas, again and my car started doing the same thing...the more I gave it gas the more it sputtered...if I feathered the gas it wasn't as bad. I pulled in a gas station, filled it up and it didn't happen again.Last Friday me and the wife drove the vert down to Charlston, SC (about a 3 hour drive) to visit with my sister for the weekend. The ride was going great, stopped about 40 miles into the drive to top the tank off with premium and was off again. We drove the back way to enjoy the drive more. Got a little more then halfway and my car started sputtering again, but this time with a full tank...dammit! I pulled into a store just to get a soft drink and when I got back on the road it stopped doing it...for about 30 miles then started up again. I stopped at a light and it stalled on me...how embarrassing...but when I restarted it...it stopped sputtering again. Well this went on until I got to my sister house. Every time it started sputtering I could just switch off the key, restart the motor and it would be fine for anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes. On the way home it did the same thing.I'm hoping that this is just a fuel pump going out...at least that's what it feels like. Anyone had this happen to them? Please help. Sorry for the long post.

Oh yeah...drove it to work tonight without any problems at all.../shrug.

[94_240sx]

Looks like one of your injectors is going bad. When it happens again, stop and pull the spark plug wires one by one to find out which cylinder is bad. There'll be no change if you pull the wire from a bad cylinder. If you pull out a good one, it will run even worse. Bad injectors did random thing like that on mine too. And yeah, I've replaced three so far.

[wmdavis007]

Thanks...I'll try that next time it does it. But when the motor would sputter it was like all the fuel was cut...not really like a cylinder missing...but it could be. I have another set of injectors...and another fuel rail...so I should have a good one if that's it. I'll just need to buy new o-rings. But I would like to upgrade to a Walbro fuel pump. I have a new Z32 fuel filter...just haven't installed it yet...wanted to do them at the same time. It's just weird...the sputtering and sluggishness won't go away until I shut the motor off and restart it...then it may not come back for 45 minutes. And it's never happened until I've been driving for at least 15 mins. Another reason I think it might be the fuel pump, I've been driving it low on fuel a lot lately...thinking the pump might have over heated and decided to start cutting out.

[94_240sx]

It's just weird...the sputtering and sluggishness won't go away until I shut the motor off and restart it...then it may not come back for 45 minutes. And it's never happened until I've been driving for at least 15 mins.

That's exactly what happened to my car, and it'll happen more often later. Car shakes really bad if it's #4 injector(radiator side).

But, it might be the fuel pump like you said. Just see which cylinder is not firing first and go from there.

[wmdavis007]

Cool...thanks. I'll check em' when it starts doing it again. Is there any way to check them...like pulling them and testing them? Like with an ohm meter?

[DeXteR]

Sounds like the infamous bad injector to me.

Been there, done that, swapped injector rails with injectors.

Side-feed injectors suck.

[94_240sx]

I was very frustrated when it happened first cuz it was doing this random crap, but after the first one it was easy second and third.

[wmdavis007]

I was very frustrated when it happened first cuz it was doing this random crap, but after the first one it was easy second and third.

Update on my problem:Well my car has been sitting in my driveway for about a month and a half. I haven't had much time to work on my car between work and fixing up my house. My problem changed from being an intermittent one to being a constant one. It's missing on the #4 cylinder all the time now. I've checked about everything I can think of and now I'm thinking my ECU is bad. What I've done up to now: first I pulled the plug wires while the motor was running and I found that when I pull #4 wire there was no change in the motor but with the others the motor would almost stall. I then took #3 wire and put it on #4 and put #4 on #3 and the #4 cylinder still was missing...so I know it's not the wires. I pulled the dist. cap and rotor and they look normal. The plugs look nice...slight brownish color...no oil or wet plugs. I did pull the #4 fuel injector and replaced it with a working used one, with new o-rings, and it's still missing. After running the motor for a little bit I pulled the #4 plug and it's got fuel on it so I know the injector is spraying. I have an extra 5-speed ECU...but...well, I can't find it...lol. I left it at my buddies shop when we did the 5-speed swap and he packed it up and put it in storage, now we can't find it...so I just bought one online. Damn I hope this works cause I can't stand not driving my vert. Plus I'm driving my 06 Expedition and it takes twice the gas to drive to work as my 240. I should get the ECU early next week so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this fixes my problem.

[PsyckoDrifter]

I've been having the EXACT same problem with my 93 Fastback. When I turn it off and turn it back on it runs fine for up to 45 min. Please let us know what was wrong if you figure it out because I'm tired of having no torque.

[wmdavis007]

I've been having the EXACT same problem with my 93 Fastback. When I turn it off and turn it back on it runs fine for up to 45 min. Please let us know what was wrong if you figure it out because I'm tired of having no torque.

Will do. I'm hoping my ECU that I ordered gets here in the next day or two. I'll post my findings soon as it comes in.

[94_240sx]

Man, sorry to hear this. Hope new ECU will make a difference.

[S15nS13vert]

my car was doing the sputtering, i park on a friend house and i tought all it was a tune up, i change everything (wires, spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, it was workin for a little bit then it stoped one night going home, it was a fuel pump, it worked fine, but everytime i am on the red light i push the gas, kinda hesitates and then it drives normal, mind you i still have the auto transmission, i just wondering if this could be a bad injector? or transmission?

[PsyckoDrifter]

Okay so today I got up and drove it to work and it didnt sputter AT ALL. I'm so confused.

[wmdavis007]

Okay so today I got up and drove it to work and it didnt sputter AT ALL. I'm so confused.

Sounds just like what mine was doing for a few months...but now it misses on 4 always. My ECU hasn't come in yet so unless it comes in tomorrow I may not get it until next week . Hopefully this will fix my problem...if not I'll have to take it to my buddies shop and just put more time and money to find the problem.

[PsyckoDrifter]

I'm thinking about resetting my ecu. Would this possibly fix it? And I'm not talking about the BS disconnect the battery and hold the brake. I mean like legit reset.

[whoareu]

i was having problems just like this, and i couldnt figure out what it was, which lead me to doing an rb25 swap, which by the way is almost complete, but while i was removing the engine i noticed it had a small vac leak. check your vacuum lines.

[wmdavis007]

Well I found out what my problem was....I had a dead spark plug. I was using some cheap spark plugs and I paid the price. I had checked the plugs and they checked out fine the first time. I ended up replacing the distributor cap, rotor button, all four plugs (bought NGK iridium this time), #4 fuel injector and swapped out my computer....all because of a failing spark plug. I got the plugs free...now I see why. My vert has been sitting for 5 months...nice to have my ride back on the road. Plus, it's a lot better on gas then my Expedition...the vert takes $25-30 in gas (high test) every two weeks, the Expedition takes $25-30 every week...that is just riding to work and back, about 15-20 miles round trip. Well, nice to be back.

[94_240sx]

Good to hear. Well, I forgot to say always go from cheap to expensive repair. Spark plug is on cheap side, so you should have started from there. But you know for a long run, you got nothing to lose. New wires, cap, spare ECU...etc.