Last week I posted about my 244 that would not acellerate at times then just wouldn't start. I had an old 740 (that was rear-ended, totaled, and kept as a parts car) to work from and swithched out the TPS, fuel pressure regulator, AMM to no avail. I had replaced the fuel filter and both fuel pumps when the car was purchased last year. After I replaced the AMM it started but still would still faulter under hard acelleration. Suggestions included the catalytic converter - I removed the oxygen sensor and the car seemed to improve slightly but not much. I even had the back pressure on it tested and it was ok. THe guy (a neighbor who's in the auto repair and muffler business) removed the fuel filter and said it was flowing but very dirty - no change in the acelleration. He said that for some unknown reasons, he had seen a lot of dirty fuel filters in the last month or so. He suggested a new fuel regulator which I installed - no change.

So I pulled the in-tank fuel pump and looked around in the tank. Nothing specially bad looking but there was tear in the "sock" filter on the bottom of the pump. Having exhausted all about everything else (excepting the computer), I bought a new main fuel pump and in-tank filter. When I took the old one off, I found the problem. The inlet of the pump was about 90% clogged with rust/dirt. The reason the car would run ok for a few miles was that the filter/reservoir would fill up at idle but the pump could not keep up under hard acelleration. I cleaned out the old pump, blew fuel through it and stuck it in the tool box for a spare. What a pain in the neck.

All this because there is no easy way to check the fuel pressure at the fuel rail. Oh well, live and learn, die and forget it all.