Fuel Pump, Water in Gas? Help!

[huckstah]

My 2002 Ford Explorer started losing acceleration/power suddenly while going down the road. It struggled to climb hills, and there was a loss in about 90% of its power even with the gas pedal pressed to the floor. I turned off my vehicle, waited a couple of hours, and it ran fine. The next day, after driving for about an hour, it did the same thing again. Once I parked it, I tried to crank it up again and it will only start up for about 5 seconds and then slowly sputter and die.

Before all of this happened, I ran out of gas TWICE in a period of 2 weeks. It's possible that a very small amount of water may have been in my fuel can that i used to fuel-up my car, but I highly doubt it. A local mechanic also told me that he has had to repair 6 cars in the past week that were getting gas from the same station that i use, and he says there was water in their gas and all the cars needed new fuel pumps.

Since replacing a new fuel pump is 500 dollars, I'm really wondering if there is a cheaper solution I can try. Maybe draining my tank, or cleaning my fuel lines or my filter? Perhaps adding some sort of additive to my tank or filling it up with new gas and try running all the gas through my engine?

EDIT: I just put 5 gallons of new gas in my tank, and ran my vehicle for about 5 minutes to try and cycle some gas through. I could hear a distinct rattling sound that sounded like it was coming from under the drivers floorboard. I've been hearing this rattle for the past couple days, and when I opened my hood I noticed my catalytic converter was red hot. This could have been from me revving the engine, but the rattling sound also sounded like it came from near the catalytic converter also. Could a bad catalytic converter be causing my power and acceleration issues?

 

[Limited02]

V6 or V8?

It's common for the head shield to come loose and rattle. When the car has cooled down, slide under and wiggle it to test.

I'd put in a fresh tank of gas and add some Chevron Techron to clean out the injectors(you can get it at walmart I think). It wouldn't hurt to change the fuel filter and spark plugs. Start with the cheap/easiest things first before spending big $$ on things that may not be the issue.

 

[cross6]

Chicken and the egg. A bad cat can clog and glow red and cause those problems. Or your engine could be having problems and is running super rich and it destroyed the cats.

You need to do diagnostic work with a scan tool before replacing the cats. Could just burn them up again.

 

[huckstah]

V6 or V8?

It's common for the head shield to come loose and rattle. When the car has cooled down, slide under and wiggle it to test.

I'd put in a fresh tank of gas and add some Chevron Techron to clean out the injectors(you can get it at walmart I think). It wouldn't hurt to change the fuel filter and spark plugs. Start with the cheap/easiest things first before spending big $$ on things that may not be the issue.

It's a V6. I'll check the shield tomorrow. I bought 3 bottles of fuel injector cleaner and added it to 5 gallons of gas a desperate measure. I ran my engine, but I had to press the gas to keep it running. I ran it for about 5 minutes, but it still sputtered out and died after i finally let go of the gas pedal.

 

[huckstah]

Chicken and the egg. A bad cat can clog and glow red and cause those problems. Or your engine could be having problems and is running super rich and it destroyed the cats.

You need to do diagnostic work with a scan tool before replacing the cats. Could just burn them up again.

How much would it cost for someone to run a diagnostic test? I'm hoping it's not a compounded problem and needing both my fuel pump and cat. converter replaced

 

[Exproblems]

Before all of this happened, I ran out of gas TWICE in a period of 2 weeks. It's possible that a very small amount of water may have been in my fuel can that i used to fuel-up my car, but I highly doubt it. A local mechanic also told me that he has had to repair 6 cars in the past week that were getting gas from the same station that i use, and he says there was water in their gas and all the cars needed new fuel pumps.

?

For water in your gas tank you can use "Gasline Anitfreeze". It is designed to keep gas lines from freezing up in colder climates, but it also evaporates any water in the tank and lines. You add it to the gas tank and it runs about $1-$2 per bottle. For the cost it's worth a try. They sell it at Walmart and most auto parts stores. I would also change the fuel filter, you may have sucked up some particles from the bottom of your gas tank running it out of fuel. If the fuel filter hasn't been changed in a while, it might be clogged up.

 

[Exproblems]

How much would it cost for someone to run a diagnostic test?

It depends if they find something wrong with your vehicle or not. I had 2 different repair shops run engine, computer diagnostics on my EX 2 years ago and each place only charged me 40 minutes in labor or about $46 in labor. The labor rate was $70 per hour. Neither place found anything wrong with my vehicle. I was trying to figure out why the gas mileage was so bad on my Explorer. It turns out, it's just a pig on gas in city driving conditions.