Time to end its misery?

I have a '93 Buick Century with some issues. Its mileage is somewhere in the lower 100,000 miles. Currently it’s sitting at a garage (which I’ve never gone to before) because it stalled on me. They tell me that the fuel pump and the fuel pump relay need to be replaced. Their quote is about $430. I’m wondering whether it’s worth keeping the car or just getting rid of it. I’d like to keep using it as long as I can, but I don’t want to start pouring money into the car on a regular basis.

The car had been driven only a handful of times in the preceeding year and several other repairs have had to be made since it was put back into use. There were two specific problems that I had noticed with the car while it was still able to run. First, the car was reluctant to accelerate up to highway speeds for at least a month or two before it quit on me. I almost had to floor the gas to get enough acceleration. Once I was up to speed, there wasn’t a problem. Could this have been the fuel pump giving out that long ago? Second, I had a squeak while turning and for a short time after turning the car. It was a repeated squeak the frequency of which seemed to be independent of the the precise speed I was travelling. I’m not sure how long the squeak had been there, and now I can’t take it to a garage that I know and trust to have that looked at before I make up my mind about the fuel pump.

I’m wondering whether the fuel pump should help with the acceleration issue and what kind of problems (and how much money) I might be looking at with the squeaking noise.

Call the garage you trust and ask them how much to have your car towed to their shop?

The fuel pump at 17 years old is a pretty common item to fail. I’m not sure why they also recommend the relay? It should be one of the other, but not necessarily both.

A new fuel pump could solve your cars power and running problems. But these could be due to other issues, such as needs new spark plugs or wires. Your fuel pump is electric and often electric fuel pumps just out right quit. No warning, they just don’t work anymore like a light bulb that burns out. The old mechanical fuel pumps usually went bad gradually with symptoms like you describe.

The squeak could be so many things, but often it isn’t a major deal. Could be time for a new drive belt or serpentine belt, neither is too many dollars.

If the towing charge is reasonable you might feel better with the mechanic you can trust.