1991 88 hesitation and miss, bad fuel pump?

[kbsbkb]

Hi everyone
I have a problem with my 1991 88 royale that I hope someone out ther can help me figure out. I recently purchased the car from my parents with 125,000 original miles. I have a hesitation in the engine when accelerating and there will also be a miss occasionally. The miss sounds like a fuel problem, not an ignition problem. This problem started after I almost ran out of gas last week. I had about a 1/4 tank of fuel according to the gauge and had to brake suddenly for stopped traffic. I noticed that the fuel gauge dropped into the red zone when I braked and when I accelerated again, the car coughed and sputtered like the fuel pump had lost suction (this has happened before when low on fuel). I stopped at the closest station and fueled up, but the sputtering, coughing and hesitation did not go away this time. My first thought was the fuel pump may have picked up some dirt from the bottom of the tank, so I changed the fuel filter and put a bottle of injector cleaner in the tank. This helped, but did not solve the problem. My dad mentioned that maybe there might have been some water in the tank from condensation or bad fuel, so I also put in the bottle of gas treatment. The car sat all weekend and driving to work this morning it ran some better, but still hesitated while accelerating. Driving home from work was another story, in the 94 degree heat, it ran so badly that I didn't think I would make it. I'm thinking that maybe either the fuel pump is going bad or that the filter sock on the bottom of the pump may be clogged. The fuel pump is original equipment. I haven't had the fuel pressure checked yet, but I hope to have that done tomorrow. Does this sound like a reasonable guess or does anyone out there have any other ideas? The car ran like a top up until this happened.
Any help would be appreciated.

[cinealta_draiodoir]

Have you tried SeaFoam? http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm

Just follow the instructions, and you'll need a bendy straw to connect it to the vacuum hose. Go slow (also great for finding exhaust leaks, you'll see, lol)

If that doesnt work just go buy the Hayes Repair Manual at an auto parts store (less than $20) and take off the fuel rail and injectors, take them apart and clean them, turn them upside down and take some 22 gauge wire and CRAEFULLY scrape out the little holes. Tap it a little upside down and all kinds of black crud will come out. Even if they look fine, change the o-rings...speaking from experience here, you don't want a gas leak... No matter how often you change the fuel filter some crud builds up in the injector. Anyway, no special tools needed. Just take out the fuel pump fuse on the passenger side fuse box and crank the engine to take off the fuel pressure...again, speaking from experience, lol. I tried to find a link so you wouldn't have to buy the book, but no dice, besides, it's worth it.

I've got a 1990 with about 150k on it, had a really bad miss and almost 0 get up and go, even after changing the filter, pump, plugs and wires...I did this and she peels out at lights...well...not drag strip peel out, but you can hear my new tires loose traction, really ticks off the import tuners, lol.

Hope this helps. You can do this in a few hours at home, the book has pictures and eveything. Even if you don't think this is the problem, it will give you better performance.

[kbsbkb]

Yes, I have used Seafoam before to clean the crud out of the intake in another vehicle about a year ago, I just did not think to try that this time. I am going to get a bottle as soon as I can. I think my problem is sediment in the injectors and fuel rail as you can read in my other posting. I am going to clean them out when I can, but the car is running much better now and I can live with it until time allows. Thanks for your input.