This has happened to me three times now. The first time was at a stop sign, the second going 70mph on the highway, and the third time at a stop sign. I will be driving and then all of a sudden the engine loses power. The more I push on the gas, the more the engine wants to die. If the engine stays running after I pull over, it idles very rough, and still if I press the gas, it wants to die. This seems to only happen after driving long distances for maybe an hour or so. When this happens, if I let the car sit for about an hour, it will start up just fine, idle smooth, and drive normally. This is a 1992 Dodge Dynasty with the 3.3L V6, Fuel Injected engine. The car only has 78,000 miles on it and is in excellent condition. It’s such a nice car that I would like to figure out what’s going on with the engine because I would like to drive it for a lot longer. So far I have replaced the ignition coil pack, the oxygen sensor, map sensor, fuel filter, and spark plugs an wires.
The fuel pump is failing, replace the fuel pump.
Thanks for the suggestion. I am curious though as to why it works just fine after letting it sit for about an hour. When I turn the ignition to the on position I can hear it kick on for a second like it is supposed to do. Also I should have mentioned above that the check engine light does not come on when the engine looses power. And I know the light works.
It is typical for a failing fuel pump to seize when it gets hot. Your fuel pressure regulator is on the engine so the fuel absorbs heat before it is returned to the tank via the return line. As you drive the fuel in the tank becomes warmer, leading up to your symptom (in the mid 90’s Chrysler started using returnless fuel systems reducing heat in the tank).
In the nintey’s this was a common problem. We would connect a fuel pressure gauge and let the car idle for 45 minutes, after such time the car would no longer run or the fuel pressure would drop when accelerating.
You may have a lean fuel system fault stored in the computer but with OBD I it may not be required to turn on the check engine light.
Thank you very much. I will replace the pump.