what are the signs of a fuel pump going bad?

Question

A friend of mine owns a 2003 chevy cavalier. Today she noticed the check engine light turn on and shortly after that, the car jolted and then stalled. When she went to try to turn it back on, it would start, but it wouldnt stay running. Could this be a fuel pump problem or something else? The car has 40,000 miles on it.

Answer 1

There are no sensors for the fuel pump to activate the "Check Engine Light".

Check the basics first:
1) Engine oil level.
2) Coolant level.
3) Pulleys, and belts.

If all those seem fine, it COULD be a bad fuel pump, plugged fuel filter, fuel pump relay, engine oil pressure switch (turns the car off if there's no oil pressure)

ADDED:
{Ben H} didn't consider the fact that you can't drive it to the car parts place because it doesn't stay running.

Answer 2

Bad Fuel Pump Signs

Answer 3

The typical life of a modern electric fuel pump is 65,000 plus miles. They do not die a silent death, either. The first indication is a noise that you are not used to and then a vibration like in your butt through the floor boards. They will occasionally die unnoticed to the unobservant driver.

Your problem sounds very much like a catalytic convertor problem. Seen many of these. They put the same Catalytic Convertor on a 4-cylinder as a 6 or 8-cylinder car and there is insufficient exhaust flow or volume to generate the orange hot temp's inside the convertor with a small engine and the "residues" from the combustion cycle build up inside the convertor until it stalls from too much back pressure inside the exhaust from the cylinder head(s) to the convertor.

An easy way to test this, if you have a knuckle headed boyfriend who can turn a wrench, is to remove the Oxygen Sensor from the exhaust manifold, typically right up front on your car, and start the motor. Some of the exhaust will escape from this hole and the motor will not "die" since you have given the exhaust gases a place to escape and therefore no suffocating back pressure on the cylinder head.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

It could be a fuel pump or the fuel filter is clogged. The bad thing about newer cars is they can be a hassle to work on. It also could me a bad sensor like a O2 sensor. The best thing to do is to take it to a mechanic and he can run a diagnostics test on it to see the problem

Answer 5

If the check engine light is on, then the engine computer knows what is wrong with it. Go to the auto parts store, and get them to read the codes. Most of the big chain parts stores do this for free (Autozone, Advance, Etc.). Once You know what wrong, then make a decision about what to fix....