I have searched and not found my answer so I am starting a new thread. Hope I can get some help. Car is 1987 TA GTA 5.0 TPI 5 speed. I bought this car, sold it and bought it back. It always had a fuel pump whine but ran wicked.even though it started slowly. Then I sold it and bought it back. Now it bogs badly ,and the fuel pump whines , but it starts instantly. Ran fuel pressure check and it was low when it was bogging. Put new pump , strainer, and fuel filter. Lasted about 3 minutes , then started whining, then bogging again. Have since checked all the fuel and return lines to make sure none are clogged. Seemed like after I checked all lines that it ran good for a minute or so, then badly again. So I then replaced the Fuel pressure Regulator. No change after that. Then replaced the pump and strainer again today and it ran fine for a few minutes with no whining , then started whining and bogging. Pressure is at 30 with the car started , and if I unplug the FPR vaccum line it goes to 40. Is that about right? If I clamp the return line I get 70 or so. I am baffled and aggravated and tired. Please HELP.

 

Did you ever figure this one out? My son's 91 Bird is doing the same thing. On our 3rd pump, the fuel filter keeps getting clogged with a brown-colored something. I thought it was bad gas the first time. Now I am beginning to think the rubber lines are deteriorating. Each time we cleaned the tank, the lines changed the filter. Keeps coming back like a bad dream.

We'll replace the lines this weekend and see.

 

You could be experiencing vapor lock with the killer summer heat and the crappy E10 gas. You are not alone, there are quite a few of us out here trying to find a solution.

I will say, your onset is a whole lot sooner than my own experience and what I have read from others.

 

Definitely nit a vapor lock, it's all of the brown junk I get out of the fuel filter. Change the filet, good to go for a while, then the same thing happens. I bought a locking gas cap, just in case the gas tank is getting some outside assistance in this issue (someone dumping stuff in). Last time we changed the pump (time #3), we cleaned the tank and blew out the lines, again. Made sure we are buying gas in the cleanest, newest stations. Keeps coming back.

 

I was commenting on the OPs post. However with your issue, I've read where E10 (ethanol in general) is such a strong solvent, that it could be "cleaning" that gunk from inside your tank and leaving it in the bottom for your pump to pick up. Assuming no one's dumping anything in and you used fuel injection rubber inside the tank, then ethanol maybe the culprit. The good news, eventually your tank will be clean enough to make the ethanol happy and you'd then be good to go. Just keep changing the fuel filter.

EDIT: oops, didn't notice the original post was from April!

 

Thanks,
I think I'm going to inspect the hoses this weekend. Does any one sell the factory style hoses for a car this old? I checked the regular parts places and no one had anything other than fuel line and high pressure clamps.

thanks

 

I believe in stock form, there are no hoses inside the tank. I replaced the pulsator with a piece of fuel injection hose I got from my local parts store. (you've done this a couple times, you'd know more than me)..I can be wrong

The hoses coming from the sending unit are the same. The one feed line with metal connectors, and the 2 in the engine bay may need to be purchased from either a GM store, tpiparts.net, OEHQ, GMpartsdirect.com, ACDelco.com, or something like that. Try and find the part number on those specialty hoses.

If you had rubber issues in your tank, I think the only one that could cause that would be the piece I described that I put in place of the pulsator.

 

Guess I didn't really describe that well...I meant the soft hoses between the fuel pump and the hard lines. I found the local dealer can still get the High Pressure line the others are regular fuel lines with clamps. That one is $70.

I'm thinking that I'm just going to have to drop the tank and get a better pump, clean the tank and flush the lines.

 

There is a special type of Fuel Hose for Submersion in the tank. If you use regular FI hose, it will eventually disintegrate. The special hose has an SAE 30R10 rating.

 

Anyone ever use a TRE performance pump:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...#ht_4669wt_923

I talked with them, they (say) they guarantee it to be quiet.

I'm thinking about making one of these part of my next move, along with have the tank boiled and cutting an access door.