97 oldsmobile LSS 3800

[scott181]

My daughter has a 1997 Olds LSS. Starts fine in the morning, drives it 20
miles to work. after 9 hours, sometimes trouble starting when leaving work.
Chugs, sputters, stalls, no power. Once running if she stops anywhere on the
way home and shuts it off same problem. I've narrowed it down to air in the
fuel line. I use the bleeder valve before the injectors and get a heavy air
mixture with the gas. Turn the key on and off several times when pressure
drops so the fuel pump will bring up pressure. Sometimes only takes once or
twice, sometimes 20 to 25 times at the bleeder valve. Once you get straight
gas it fires right up and runs fine. Not a hole in the gas line as she gets good
gas mileage and no leaks. Could there be a problem at the fuel pump, picking
up air??? Could the fuel pump and assemble come loose and moving around
in the tank??? I should mention her fuel gauge hasn't worked since she got
the car 2 years ago. Usually reads full all the time, until she gets down to
about a quarter of a tank, then it sits on empty. She's gotten real good at
doing the math of how far she can drive on how much gas she has put in it.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[maxwedge]

Test the fuel pressure look for 41-47 psi.

[scott181]

Thanks!!!!! Bought a fuel pressure gauge kit and when it won't start or chugs and stalls only has 10 PSI. Checked it first thing this morning when
it did start and had 18 PSI. No where near the 41-47 that it should have.
Thank you for your help. I was planning on dropping the tank to inspect the
fuel pump, but your advice cleared it up to that is the actual problem. Gonna
be a real pain to do this, have to remove the exhaust to get at the tank.
Looks like a weekend project for me next weekend.