2001 wont start

[mavrik66]

My van was ok all day. My wife pulled into the drive and turned it off. 10 minutes later left again. Vehicle started right up and backed up, when she put it in drive it died and would not start. It kind of started about 20 minutes later and chugged then died. The Positive battery cable needed cleaning and after that it still would not start. It does turn over. I also tried to jump it with another vehicle. Acts like it needs gas. Could the fuel pump be bad. It has 125000k on it. Any help will be appreciated. thanks

[Johnny Mullet]

Rent or borrow a fuel pressure gauge and hook it to the fuel rail. This will let you know for sure if the problem is pump/pressure related and you can avoid throwing parts at it.

Should be like 38-45 PSI

[Andrew1941]

Probably is the fuel pump. I have a Winnie and F150. The F150 pump went and did the same thing. The pump on the F150 is in the tank and is liquid cooled. When it is running, all is good, but when you stop the pump, it basically siezes up and then has difficulty getting turning again. What I did until I got it fixed was took a small 2x4 and hit the side of the fuel tank really hard. This is enough to jolt the pump a bit and then it would restart. Not sure on the Winnie where the pump is, but on the F150 it is near the drivers side towards the front of the tank. Some times it took a whack or two to get it to start, but give it hit. Then try the key again. If that works, then you need a new fuel pump!

[Andrew1941]

By the way, the F150 was at 90,000km and I was told I got the typical life expectancy out of a Ford fuel pump.