took my 85 out for a ride on sunday and ended up having the vette flatbedded home, on a truck about a mile from home. car was running fine all of a sudden it just started to bog down. could not give it any gas. It would not go. you can shut it off and it will start right up and idle fine as soon as you give it any gas she starts to spit and sputter. she just bogs down and stalls. it did not throw any codes and check engine light did not come on. any ideas on what it could be. i hope to fix it myself and save some money. sorry for the long post.

 

sounds like the fuel pump is dying.

Do you have a fuel pressure gauge? if not, get one.

 

Did you check if you had any gas ...
it happened to me, I shat myself trying to figure out why my car died on my driveway once and after fiddleing with the distributor and spark plugs for an hour I found out that it just didnt have any gas :o

 

It sounds like a fuel problem.

 

Fuel Pump???

Clogged fuel filter???

Faulty fuel relay???

Clogged injectors???

 

Don't fret, it's one of the easiest repairs on the car. You already did the hardest part in getting it flatbedded home. At least you were close to home. Mine died 100 miles from home, and I had to flatbed it to the nearest town, scout out parts and tools, and fixed it, (with the help of a fellow forum member.) Only took about 40 minutes to do the actual repair.




To verify it's the fuel pump, first, make sure you have at least a 1/4 tank of gas in there. Have someone else turn the key on (but not to run!) while you stick your ear under the fuel tank in back, or just near the spare if it's still on there. You'll hear the pump prime, or try to. It'll probably studder. A properly working fuel pump will churn for 2 seconds, then stop. To prime it again, turn the key off, wait about 5 seconds for the fuel pump relay to reset (you'll hear a click inside the car), then turn the key on again.



For the repair, you'll need a t15 torx driver, a 12mm socket with extension, some pliers, and possibly a soldering gun, depending on if the new pump you buy has the correct plugs. Make sure you relieve the fuel line pressure at the schrader valve on the fuel rail before removing any fuel lines

 

my 86 did that once. It was the precats that clogged the main cat. But it did throw a oxygen sensor code. Let us know what it was...

 

Sounds like either a fuel pump or an old fuel filter. Get a fuel pressure test.

 

As soon as I parked my 90 in drive, I went inside & signed up with AAA. Came in handy a couple times.

 

That is the easiest way to check if the pump is working. I used to be a part of a local F-body club and I had a friend that had this exact problem. It turned out to be a fuel pump... the above process is how we identified it.

However, I had a similar problem that I didn't diagnos(?) the same way and replaced my fuel pump without checking it first. It turned out to be my fuel pressure regulator! I replaced the filter in the process of this so I'm not sure if this is totally correct, but I took the regulator out and blasted some air from my compressor through it and this gunky black crap came out of the end. I reinstalled it and the car ran fine ever since. It's food for thought... I hope this helps. Point of this is make sure you know what the problem is before you go wasting money on unnecessary stuff like I did.

If it works for you, I have an extra fuel pump that came out of an LT1 car. I don't know if it is capatable with the TPI cars though. I bought it for a project that it won't work for so I don't need it. Let me know if you can use it.

 

thanks for the replies i hope to check it out this weekend hopefully it is just the fuelpump. i will let you know thanks again

 

My car got a ride on a flatbed last month also. Sounds like the fuel pump as everyone else has stated. It's an easy DIY'er.

 

One mile from home Lucky you when the tranny went out in my Iroc I was 650 miles from home had to rent a car dolly and have my bro tow it all the way home from lake Tahoe to Salt lake. now that sucked

 

I stopped and helped two guys in a TPI powered T/A on I-5 last month. They had the same problem. I was able to diagnose everything right there and get them well on their way to getting it fixed.

unfortunately on the f-bodies, the exhaust and part of the suspension has to be removed to get the fuel pump out.

 

On the bright side, your Vette looks darn good on the flatbed!

Ben