Engine dies at speed!!!!!!

Newbie Joined: Feb 25, 2003 Posts: 9 Location: UK

My 1993 100 2.0E Avant tried to kill me several times today. Travelling at speed in the middle lane of the M6 it lost all power. This has happened before and turning the engine off and on again to restart it cures it for a while (yes this can be done in the middle lane of the M6).
The petrol pump has been noisy for a while and was more so during the power loss. I've recently had the engine rebuilt.
Is this the petrol pump finally giving up or is it another problem? This is my only car and I could well be doing runs to and from Birmingham to visit a sick parent soon.
TIA Julz
Crying or Very sad

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 1:56 pm

when petrol pump goes it is usually a bit more gradual... it does make a noise first, then you start to lose power at higher revs, but ok at low revs/load.

not sure what is causing total power loss, but sounds electrical..? if a garage has done a lot of work, are battery terminals on tight??

Newbie Joined: Feb 25, 2003 Posts: 9 Location: UK

Think we may have found the answer. We just got the fuel filter changed and there's rust coming out of it at the injector end. Looks like it was fuel starvation.
Julz Very Happy

Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 9:53 pm

I would still recommend to have a fuel pump change. this way you could also clean the tank (may be rusted + needs changing as well.) if you found bits of rust in the filter it has to come from somewhere!!. the pump is likely to cause rather lack of power (and lets the engine die at idle) but is a bit of a time bomb. if noisy they work only for so long and fail when you need it the least (overtaking, speeding away from that motorway junction .....)

Newbie Joined: Feb 25, 2003 Posts: 9 Location: UK

The rust was coming from the engine end of the filter not the tank end. The fuel pump had been removed inspected and replaced. It's a little immaterial now as this afternoon I agreed to trade it for an MPV so I'll be leaving the forum soon. BTW there has been a noticeable improvemnet since the filter was replaced.
Julian