I am not new to cars or anything but I have no access to a fuel pressure gauge or anything. I have never worked on this year of type of truck before though. This is my dads truck and he had this problem long ago that he described that he needed to change a 'fan' type deal up in the engine compartment that deals with fuel delivery? I never heard of that, I thought he was just talking about those stupid vortex things that go in your intake hose that makes you get more 'fuel efficiency' So I just said whatever when I got into a fight about it with him. ANYWAYS heres the problem:

He comes home today down the street his car shuts off, he calls me and says hes stuck and i'm at a cubs game so I can't help. I go to his truck like 20 minutes ago to hammer on the fuel tank to see if it runs mind you he got about a mile before it shut off again. It seems to start up and gives a good rev and then its done. IF THIS WAS MY GUESS I would say its the fuel pump. I mean I obviously think he needs a tune up/fuelfilter/air filter but it wouldn't get this bad. I didn't get a good look as his truck though under the hood. Does it include a dizzy or is it a coil? Maybe his caps f'd up. I would really appreciate the advice. I tried finding this 'vortex' thing my dad was talking about when his truck did this before but I can't find it.

Thank you
Eric

 

Sounds like a fuel pump if it started back after hitting the tank. Plus the fuel pumps in these years are very common to go bad. I would run a pressure check first before replacing it. Alot of auto parts stores will either rent you a pressure guage or you can buy a cheap one. You can also listen near the tank while he turns the key to the on position to see if you hear it run for 3 seconds or so (priming the system). I would replace the fuel filter first because they are cheap and you willl want a new one with the new pump anyway. There is a slim chance that the filter might fix it though.

 

Well I guess its at shop now he couldn't wait understandable. But when I heard the priming it went for 1.5 seconds at most and it sounded like it was weak