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Truck sporatically loses power and dies

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Old 09-22-2009, 09:39 AM
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Default Truck sporatically loses power and dies

I like to think I am pretty good at diagnosing my truck but this one is throwing me a little. I have some ideas but wanted to post and get some more suggestions in case I am missing something.

This is a random problem, meaning I can't pinpoint what sets it off exactly. I will be driving and all of a sudden the truck will cut out, like its struggling to get fuel. I press down on the pedal and the truck doesn't accelerate, and it starts to die out. Now it doesn't die out completely all the time, sometimes if I pull over fast enough and let off the pedal it will idle, and when it does die it won't start back up right away.

Mind you this is always on a highway when I have this luck so I haven't been able to really diagnose it well. Anyways, if it doesn't die I can drive it again, it usually loses power again oon. If it does die it never starts up right away, turns the starter but always seems like there is no fuel. If I wait a little bit, like 30 seconds, I can start it up again usually. I may have very well bumped something when I was disconnecting my EGR valve, but cannot figure out what yet. I have checked wires and grounds and don't see anything loose. Ran a can of seafoam in there and can't tell if it helped. All guages are where they should be.

So, I have been leaning towards bad fuel, which is a shot in the dark, or I am thinking it may be something else going out that is a simple fix but since I haven't had the problem before I can't say for sure.
 
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Old 09-22-2009, 10:10 AM
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There were two times in my life that I had something similar happen to me. The first was during the summer in one of my old cars and it turned out to be vapor lock. A fuel line got bent too close to the exhaust manifold during a repair and cause the vapor lock due to the extreme heat. The second time was with my Dakota last winter but that turned out to be water in the fuel lines. A little dry gas cleared that right up and the truck has run fine ever since. As it's summer I would check to see where all of your fuel lines are routed and make sure non of them have been bumped too close to an extreme heat source. The only other thing I can think of is a failing fuel pump or a clogged filter. How about the air filter too? I don't mean to state the obvious but, sometimes we overlook the little seemingly little things.
 
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Old 09-22-2009, 10:27 AM
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Sounds like a fuel problem. Bad gas is a possibility. But to me it sounds like a dying fuel pump. Or just low fuel pressure. Clogged filter. Another is a vacuum leak. Check all hoses. Possibly a bad coil or part of the ignition system.
 
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Old 09-22-2009, 05:05 PM
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The hoses on the passenger side of the intake are not on really tight and I'm guessing they should be. I noticed this when messing with the EGR valve. I will have to look into it a little more.

Dying fuel pump is possible. It would really suck since I changed it a while ago, not recently, but it isn't original.

Unhooking the EGR valve shouldn't lead to this right?

Ignition coil is new, high performance from Summit. Pretty sure that isn't it. Although anything is possible at this point.
 



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