fuel problem or what?

my 1998 dodge stratus has the abs light on now. I was told that everything
should work fine other than the abs part of the brakes. the car now is
starting hard and acts like it's not getting enough fuel when I punch it. if
I work the linkage under the hood, and do it real fast , it will bog right
down and die. if I do it gradual it will then accelerate. I'm getting
12.6vdc before starting car and 14vdc once the car starts. I can gear the
fuel pump making noise when the key is in the on position but it's hard to
hear once it's running,but I assume it's working because the car seems at
times it's getting gas. I have a new fuel filter in this car. there are no
codes present and taking the battery cable off didn't clear the abs code.
any suggestions please? thanks Randy

 

Start with the basics, have the fuel pressure checked

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler tech

 

Sounds like something a dealer would say. All they need to do is flush
and replace all fluids; replace all hoses and flexible lines; replace
the spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor; replace all filters (again). Now
if after spending over $500 it still has the hesitation problem, the
fuel pump is probably weak and needs to be replaced (which would be
evident by checking the fuel pressure). :O

Regarding the ABS light it probably has a bad fuse. I think they have
redundant supply lines and will turn on the ABS light if one of them is
dead. My ABS light on my '98 Stratus was coming on at times. The car had
over 100k miles on it and I had a fair amount of pulsation in the
brakes. The pulsation went away and the ABS light stopped coming on when
I replaced the pads/shoes and resurfaced the rotors/drums.

 

You're saying spend $500 before having the fuel pressure checked? If
that's the choice, I'd take Glenns's advice. Or were you being facetious?

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

thanks for the replies guy's. now be nice a friend checked the pressure
while I turned the key on and there was no pressure at all. he believes the
fuel pump is bad,even though you can here it cycle. so I'll be changing that
and fuel filter at the same time.

 

a fuel pressure test!

 

My intent was to reinforce what Glen suggested by showing how senseless
it is to throw parts at a problem. Unfortunately it is the natural
tendency and I have found myself doing the same thing.

Thanks for the response - now I know how to spell facetious.

Bill Putney wrote:
[snip]

 

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

well, now with new plugs,wires,fuel pump, fuel filter, the car still does
not run right. it misses and acts like it's not getting fuel when you step
on it . could it be the coils shorting out under load? I know my repair
manual says I can check the coils with my multi meter but how do you
simulate it under load, if this is the problem. note: there are no codes of
any kind coming up with this problem. I don't want to be a parts hanger but
I had 2 distributors that were bad before,and the last one was changed in
Feb 07. any ideas or checks I can do. would the dodge dealer find the
problem on his expensive equipment? my mechanic friend did the fuel
pump,filter, this weekend and the last distributor in feb 07 and he thinks
it's an ignition problem. I thought I read somewhere if the voltage isn't
right ,then the fuel won't pump? thanks for any info Randy

 

up date on car problem i think it's fixed now. i had a blown ABS
fuse in the PDC box and also removed the gas cap a couple of times and now
the car seems to run fine. i won't test drive it until i figure out this
ticking noise that sounds like it's coming from inside the distributor
cap,like the rotor hitting.
will keep you all posted . thanks for all the input Randy

 

well it's not fixed and i'm ready to shoot this car :-(