99 GC cuts off while driving

[gshep]

My 99 GC 6 cyl has begun to intermittantly cut off while driving. I can shift to neutral and start it back up while coasting and drive on. The other day it cut off and as I was coasting over to the pokey lane to shift to neutral it picked back up and began running again. This seems to happen more often if I am around a 1/4 tank of gas. I can't recall it happening over 1/2 tank. No check engine light is set. Am I loosing a fuel pump?

[Ron68]

Possible blocked fuel pump strainers (2) in tank. Does it seem to cut out when making left turns also? Does it run okay while cruising on the freeway until you try to accelerate, then it cuts out until you back off on the throttle?

If it does that, you will have to drop the tank and pull out the tank unit and replace the two plastic fuel strainers common to the pump inlet.

[gshep]

Thanks for the reply. No, it does not stumble under acceleration or in a particular turn. It is very intermittant. It surprised me the other day when I changed lanes and it picked back up. It reminded me of sloshing a car back and forth that was about out of gas to get to a gas station. Now it may have been just coincidence. Another thing is the lack of a check engine light. Is pulling the tank a big deal? I am fairly auto literate having been a shop foreman in one of my careers.
Thanks, Greg

[Ron68]

It's not too bad. Run the fuel level down low. Remove a couple of heat shields, Unhook the fuel tank electical connector, unhook the fuel vent and fill hoses and drop the two hanger straps. Carefully lower the tank and remove the return and pressure lines and then unscrew the large plastic cap that holds the tank unit in. At least that's the way my 97 came apart. Once you get the tank unit out, you'll see how to take it apart. The two plastic strainers are on the bottom of the unit and inside the bottom of the unit, at the inlet to the pump. They get clogged with rust and debris and cut off the fuel to the pump. There is no bypass, so if they get clogged, the pump starves. I replaced the pump and strainers for about $105.