Today I had the Trans Am out on for a drive up hill, I was going about 30 when the engine started to stutter. I gave it some gas (6 speed, in third gear), and it died a few seconds later. Tried to start it back up, couldn't get it to turn over for a few minutes. When it finally did start back up, I had to keep it basically floored in neutral to keep it above 1000 RPM, after a few seconds of pumping the gas to keep it alive it finally died again. It sounds like a fuel delivery problem, like a clogged fuel filter or a weak fuel pump, but over the summer I put in a new Racetronix pump and a new filter. The car has only gotten a couple hundred miles, if that, since summer. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this? Could the filter have gotten clogged while sitting? This is the first time the car has died at speed.

 

Have you checked the fuel pressure? Does the car still have cats on it?

 

Haven't checked the fuel pressure, I can check that out. Yep it has cats

 

Looks like I won't be able to check the pressure any time soon...couldn't get it to start, and trying managed to blow my starter.

 

Alright, back from college for the summer so I finally can work on this thing. Fuel pressure showed ZERO with key on ignition off. I see no way I could have put the pressure gauge on wrong, I double checked a few times to be sure that I'm not just dumb. Not sure what zero pressure could indicate.

 

Fuel pump issue. Can you hear it wine? First make sure it's getting power. If it is, remove it and check the internal lines.

 

I can hear it hum when I turn the key. I'll check if its getting power tomorrow. It's a new Walbro 255 put in last August, barely any miles on the car since then, it ran very well for a few months after that.

 

I have a finicky pressure gauge which doesn't correctly read and takes a few tries of fastening before it will read pressure. If it isn't fuel pressure it reads like textbook loose opti rotor screws.

 

I'll try it a few more times then, it's an autozone rental. Okay, so would that mean a new opti? Or just a new rotor, or is it even simpler than that? Thanks!

 

If you hear the hum, it's likely getting power. If your Guage is reading accurately, you probably have a loose line in the tank.

 

Most likely it would be taking the opti apart and applying loctite onto opti screws.

 

Awesome, so still kind of a bitch but not expensive at least. I'll look into that if the pump lines look totally fine, the pressure is still reading zero even with a different gauge.

 

With a new fuel pump, it's not uncommon to have a line pop off in the tank and cause issues. Hope you did the trap door mod. If so, it's an easy check.

 

Moneys on the rubber line from the pump, had mine fail.

 

Opened up my trap door, thank god, to take a look at the fuel pump and I found the problem. Turns out my mother ******* float or sender or something wasn't working so my gauge wasn't reading correctly and my tank was completely out of gas. ******* gas. Thanks for the help guys, turns out I'm just incompetent.

 

It happens. When you put your pump back in make sure the float goes all the way to the bottom. The shape of the tank makes it difficult to get right. But it can hang up on the upper part and cause a false indication.

You can verify proper operation of the gauge by tracking milage with your odometer. 150-200 should be at the half mark, and 225-275 is about empty per tank top off.