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ib516's avatar
ib516
Explorer II
Aug 05, 2019

Stranded/broke down

Pulling through the city of Calgary, on the bypass. Had just filled with fuel 3 miles back. ¼ tank to full. Pulling up hill, gauges all normal, cruise set. Start to lose power and slow down. I reacted by adding throttle. Still decelerating. Had music on, couldn't hear what the engine was doing. Slowing more now, foot to the floor...get that sinking feeling that something is wrong. Turn on the 4 ways and pull over, truck died before I got stopped.

Truck cranks fine and sounds like it wants to start but never quite does.

No codes stored, no check engine light. Yes I'm sure I filled with unleaded.

So I'm camping in my brother's driveway. Truck is at the shop, hopefully they look at it first thing. Truck has 250,000 km or 150,000 miles.

So...what's your guess?

I'm thinking fuel pump.

37 Replies

  • Yes vapor lock is not really a thing with fuel injected engines and fuel cooled fuel pumps any longer.
    Agree likely causes, bad fuel or fuel pump died.

    I see it's already at the shop, but most vehicles have a schrader valve somewhere on the fuel rail(s). Easy to check for fuel pressure there. Quick test, if it fires on ether and not otherwise it's very likely a fuel delivery issue somewhere.
  • Doesn’t a pump in the tank greatly reduce or eliminate the chance of vapor lock? On my old Volkswagens, vapor lock is common if you don’t have everything running the way you should, but the pump is sucking fuel with very little inlet pressure to a pump that is bolted to a hot air cooled motor.
  • Having just filled up, and no previous problems, I would guess bad fuel.
  • Vapor locked from warm temps, pulling hard uphill, and using that dreaded ethanol fuel.

    Jerry