The has been an on going issue for some time with my brothers 95 Formula A4. I am interested in buying the cra but need to get this issue fixed first. The car is on it's third fuel pump in about 3 years, but the current Granatelli (sp?) 255 pumps great. Car ran strong until yesterday, it began the symptons that is has done in the past. Car started fine and got about two blocks away when it lost power, you could nail the gas and it was like not being on the throttle at all. All it would miss than stall out, waited about 5 minutes (sucked in 107 temps in a black car with leather). Car started and I got it back to my brothers house, but it began to do it again about a block away so I managed to coast there. Because of the issue my brother made a access panel after the last pump install (getting that tank out was a challenge neither of us wanted anymore). We pull the panel in the trunk and disconnect the lines to examine the pump. Weird thing is when we disconnected the return line I got blasted with fuel coming out of the line. I figured if it would ever hapen it would be on the push side, but I guess not. The gas cap was off to relieve pressure in the tank prior to pulling the lines. The pump looked fine, but last time the car had issues the line in the middle of the pump (short one about 3 inches) partially spererated and was the culprit, it is just a rubber one since the original with the metal sleeve couldn't be swapped over.

I didnt think it would be possible but could there be a vapor lock issue? It has been in the high 90 and 100's for the past few weeks. Also the car ran out of gas about a week ago and after putting gas in it ran great until yesterday. Also when the car is running while having the problem it will run rough almost like a bad misfire, and if you bump the gas it will stall out. After we reinstalled the pump the car started and idled for a good 10 minutes and reved just fine, we took it down the block and when you hammer it, again it is as if you werent on the gas at all and then it would start to shudder.

This has been an on going issue for some time and the fuel system has been flushed, fuel filter is about 6 months old, pump is about 6 months old, and also the fuel pressure regulator has been replaced with an adjustable unit....can't recall which company. I really like the car and would buy it but I dont want to have to deal with this issue 100 miles from home or even 1 mile from home.

 

Running the car out of gas will pick up all of the crap from the bottom of the tank. The filter should catch all of this crap. Maybe the filter is plugged. Not likely, but possible. Try installing a fuel pressure guage at the motor and monitoring it while running. Another possibility, are you sure its not getting fuel??? Or could it be spark??? I had a bad coil in my car, and it would run awesome until the coil got hot, and then as soon as you demanded a lot of spark, it was like hitting a kill switch. It may be worth while to get yourself a good MSD coil, their relatively cheap, well under a hundred bucks. If it doesn't fix it, it will help performance once you fix the real problem.

 

I'll tell him so we can look into it, I could see that happening with the high heat we have been having. Also last time we checked the fuel pressure (about a month ago) it was around 48-50psi I think. We can check the fuel pressure and coil...also after it ran for 10 minutes yesterday after reinstalling the pump I cut the car off and then tried starting it again. I didnt want to start but would crank, so I stoppped and tried it again at which point it fired up. Also the car has 99,420 on it if that helps too.

 

My car has a problem with holding fuel prime. If it was warm and had been sitting for 20 minutes or so, I have to crack the key twice to get fuel back to the rails, then it starts right up. Doesn't hurt performance, just makes your car look like a pile when your cranking on it for 10 seconds to get it to fire. I wouldn't worry too much about the starting issue. Good luck, let us know what you find.

 

Going to check a little later today, since it is already about 100 out. Also my brother had a good point, could the coil have just been really hot since it was 107 yesterday and the a/c was on when I went to his house, and it did this about 10 minutes later with the a/c off.

Also what could be the reason for the return fuel line shooting out fuel as soon as it was disconnected?

 

Thats a big curve ball thrown into the situation. I have no idea. Sorry dude.

 

Hopefully someone may be able to shed some light on the situation. 94strokedz, you definetly gave some good ideas though, and we can atleast check out the coil and fuel pressure.

 

Hopefully you get it real soon. Let me know what you found. And damn its hot there!!!!