I bought my 2000 3.8 with 84,000 miles. It has 86,000 now.

Today I picked it up from the painter's and it was on empty with the Check Gages light on. I pulled into the closest station and got 4 gallons.

Driving down the freeway the car cut out for a fraction of a second. It did it maybe three times in a 40 minute drive. I made 3 stops and starts during that time.

Is this a sign of a failing Fuel pump? Is the average life really only between 80 and 100K miles? Could I have just bought some bad gas? I changed the fuel filter two weeks ago.

I checked under my back carpet and no access hole has been cut.

Could the engine cutting out be due to a bad A/C Clutch? (read my other post)

What do you think and what would you do?

 

The first thing you should do is to check the fuel pressure per the factory service manual. Running empty can cause the pump to overheat and break down. Testing the pressure under load should give a good indication of the state of the pump.

 

when the car is empty of fuel, the check gages light goes on?

 

And the light made him check his gas gauge.

 

Hey thanks. I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.

I don't have the service manual, can you sum up the procedure for me?

I assume it is uses a pressure gage on the fuel rail both at idle and under load (means during acceleration). Is that correct?

Can you tell me what the pressure should be?

 

and how many miles do u have or KM as soon as the light is on?