Fuel pump? Or fuel pressure regulator?

[Kevin]

Long story short - a tank strap broke going over a big bump. I made a new one up, used a jack to lift the tank back up (and support) to put the new strap on.

Car worked fine for a month after, crapped out - wouldn't run worth dog-doo, 1500rpm max (while parked) sputtering the whole time.

Fast forward 4 months, the wife wrecks her car, she needs to drive the Mark (Bad idea, I know ) - we dig it out of the snow. Low and behold, it fired right up (boosted), with no problems.

Hooked a gauge up to the fuel rail, at idle the needle is wavering around the 35psi mark. When revved, the needle pushes over to where the pin is in the gauge (about 45psi). Not sure what it's really pushing for psi, it's the only gauge I have that'll work. But it does show that fuel pressure increases under throttle.

So here's my conundrum - is the fuel pump going and working intermittently? Could there be a broken wire or something on the top that was squeezed when the tank was lifted back in?

Or is it the fuel pressure regulator sending fuel back down the return line when it's needed at the engine? Am not quite sure how this part works, so please pardon my ignorance on the subject.

Any tips/ideas/advice welcome!

 

[mespock]

Well it's always good to change fuel filters on a regular basis.

You may have kinked a line as the tank dropped and then being pushed back up, but I'd think that would show a constant problem.

 

[Kevin]

Should have mentioned that the fuel filter was changed, as a result of the acting up (which didn't fix the original problem at that time).

Great idea though, first place anybody should look when there's a fuel issue. Easiest/cheapest 'fix' if it works.