I drove the z out this morning and it was running good. I was stopped at a stoplight and she just died on me. I put it in park and it started right up again. Went further down the road and got stuck at another light and bam it died again. I put it in park and it fired right up again. Its running like a dream except for that. I know its not the opti cuz I changed it yesterday and the car hasnt run this good since I bought it with 50k miles on it 3 years ago. I have run out of gas completely before, about 2 months after i got the car, cuz im an idiot and didnt realize there was no low gas light. Ever since then, it has hard starting problems. I already bought a fuel pump and I'm pretty sure thats what is causing the car dieing. Anybody else got any ideas? Thanks, Michael

 

Ok first thing is I wouldn't let the gas go below 1/4 of a tank because thats what is keeping the pump cool is the gas that its emerged in. I had a 3 gen that I bought new and I was poor at the time so it was always on "E" or below 1/4 of a tank and I ruined the pump because of that.

2nd did you change the fuel filter? Maybe its clogged and thats your problem.

Also can you here the pump prime everytime you click the key to the on position? If so I would do the filter first.

Just to let you know how mine went out. It died at a stop light started right back up. Went over a bridge to the next light and I was fighting it to keep it running in the intersection while trying to make a left turn, then it died and it was over. $90 dollar tow bill.

I later took the old pump hooked it up to a car battery adn tapped on the ground and it would run tapped it again and it would quit. The bearing was ruined.

good luck
Z~

 

It does prime, but it still hard starts. If i prime it like 3 or 4 times it will fire up immediately. I pulled the fuel filter out when I had it up on the lift (my buddies got one in his shop) and it appeared ok, we blew through it and it seemed ok. I have done all of the things involved in a tune-up so forth and none of that did anything. It leads me to believe its fuel related and is either an injector or the fuel pump. I just replaced the majority of my ignition stuff (plugs, wires, opti). I guess I am just looking for a reasuring opinioin that it is most likely my fuel pump. thanks, Michael

 

The best way to check is to attach a pressure guage to the Schraeder valve on the fuel rail and monitor the pressure.

 

does my problem sound like the fuel pump or something else? I dont want to change the fuel pump and have this thing keep dying on me. That will just end up pissing me off. Anybody else?