Occasional lack of fuel pressure

DARBYDEVILLIER

MEMBER
1997 DODGE INTREPID
6 CYL
FWD
65,000 MILES

I have a 97 intrepid that dies randomly, sometimes while I'm driving. But it always starts back up eventually. It definitely feels like the fuel pump is going out but it has been "going out" for over a year now. Is that possible? If not, any idea what else could be causing it to loose fuel pressure? Also, the fuel line was once cut and repaired with just regular hosing so I thought maybe it was collapsing, but my friend who is a mechanic insists that it can't collapse because it pushes the fuel through not sucking it through.

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

Your friend is absolutely correct. The entire fuel supply system is under around 45 - 50 pounds of pressure. Unlike GM pumps which commonly fail while driving, Chrysler pumps rarely do that. Their typical failure is a failure to start up when you start the engine. Once they are running it is extremely rare for them to quit on their own. Banging on the tank often jars them enough to get them started.

What is much more common is a failing crankshaft position sensor or a camshaft position sensor. They will often fail when they get warm from normal engine heat, then they work fine after cooling down for a half hour. Usually there will be a diagnostic fault code stored in the Engine Computer related to which of those circuits has the problem.

When those sensors fail, the computer turns off the fuel pump, ignition system, and injectors so it is important to check all of those systems and not get hung up on the missing fuel.