Failed fuel system, car won't start, but ran till I parked it

[Striph]

Yesterday afternoon on the way home from work I realized I was extremely low on gas, normally I can pull 270 miles on a full tank. I was at about 265, drove about 4 miles home, and was at a stop light when I noticed this. Light turns green and I accelerate to have the car chug/lurch as I did, my clutch has been really soft lately so I figured maybe it was that, but just to be there was a gas station on the corner so I zoomed in and filled the tank with gas. Got back in the car it started fine, pull out and onto the highway same lurching/chugging of the engine under load. If i pushed the clutch in and floored it engine would rev normally, but under a load it did the chugging. Finally drive 3 miles from the station to home, park the car, let it sit for about half hour, came out and tried to start it and nothing happened. Just turns over but fails to start.

Now I have a performance ignition system, have had it for about 8yrs and never had ANY type of problem similar to this. I've had alternator belts break and die on me, so I know how that feels. I've also had a timing chain break so I know how that is also, but this is a whole new thing. I decided to bypass the system with a stock coil wire from the coil to the distributor and same thing, turns over but won't start. If I unhook the coil COMPLETELY it does the exact same thing, for what thats worth.

Now I've heard that when you run out of fuel your injectors can get screwed up or something? I'm wondering if this isn't a fuel filter/pump/injector problem and not a ignition system issue. I haven't driven the car that low on gas ever so I'm not sure whats happened.

Anyone experienced a similar situation or have any ideas? So far when I get off from work my first thing is going to test to see if my spark plugs are sparking to rule out the ignition system, but I'm thinking fuel as this point.

[bigrod118]

yeah im in the same spot. crank but no start. got a new fuel pump hooked it up but it still didnt turn on, so I returned that. then I went to look for the fuel pump relay, but I go to see what a new one will cost. its like $80 from the dealership. and cheaper at parts stores, but the part store says theres like 5 different stampings that it could have. so 5 different choices. so I havent done anything yet. I still need to even check from the fuel pump back, where the power is first lost, then replace whatever it is that needs replaceing.

[Jet-Lee]

Check ur inertia-switch/pump-cutoff?

Your injectors will be fine, I've killed my car plenty of times by killing the pump and letting it run till it dies (required to be able to work on fuel system).

[Striph]

Have not checked it yet, but I thought about it when I was reading through my Haynes manual. Had a pic of it and I recall seeing it, so thats the first thing to do, gonna pop that up/down whichever and see from there. Have to remember to unhook my racing coil/computer and use the stock when when I check for spark, 50k volts = bad!

[Striph]

Checked the inertia switch, its pushed down in the normal position.

Guess I'll dive into it this weekend when I have some serious time to check stuff.

When I turn the engine over I can here a faint foomping noise, can't tell where, but it didn't make that noise yesterday, is there a vacuum hose somewhere associated with the fuel line that maybe got clogged or need clearing?

[Jet-Lee]

got compression?

[Striph]

Spark yes, compression as well.

Originally Posted by Jet-Lee

got compression?

[Jet-Lee]

good spark?

Me an some buddies worked over an Acura 2.5TL for a week. Turned out it was a bad battery. Even a good jump couldn't start the car. Maybe swap in the battery from another car of yours? The spark on the TL was white instead of blue.

[Striph]

Getting good spark, compression is good, gas is pumping out of the fuel filter (and I thought a hose into a jar would work, it fired out of the jar like crazy lol). So i'm gonna assume its somewhere between the top of the filter and the fuel injectors/rail.