Engine dies while going down the road

[bswildcat]

I have a 96 cavalier 2.2L manual transmission. Very spuratically the engine will die while going down the highway. Sometimes it does it multiple times in one day then it will run great for weeks. If you pull over and try to restart the engine a couple times it will fire back up and run fine. It has 180k miles on it. New fuel filter, plugs, and wires have been installed. I'm looking for any suggestions. thanks

[J-Ri]

Check the fuel pressure. If it is low, replace the fuel pump. If not, leave the gauge connected and tape it to the windshield so you can watch it while you drive and see if it drops when the engine dies.

[bswildcat]

Thanks for the reply I was kinda thinking it may be a the fuel pump. I'll have to check that and see. What is the ideal fuel pressure for that car?

[J-Ri]

Well, I was hoping someone who knew for sure would reply, since it's been 4 days here's my guess. I think it's 50 PSI or so, probably +/- 10%. When flushing my injectors, my Ecotec ran on as low as 10 PSI at idle, as have 99% of the other engines I've flushed the injectors on. Your pressure will drop considerably when the engine dies. A repair manual should have the spec.