Ford Repair: problem, mercury grand marquis, 1989 mercury grand marquis

Question
I have a 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis with a 5.0 liter engine. Here's the trouble that I am having. When I frist start the car it runs fine, after about 15-20 miles it start to lack in performance, if you press on the gas it spits, sputters and bogs down yet will still idle just fine, but if you shut the car off and let it sit for about 10 minutes, restart it, then it will be fine again for about 15-20 miles or so. My thoughts on the problem are this, possible feul pump problem, when you turn on the key you can hear the feul pump kick in for a couple of seconds, and after running the car for the 15-20 miles, if you walk to the rear of the car, you can here the feul pump making a sort of buzzing noise, this noise can also be heard through the car stereo, but not when the car is first started, this has been going on for about a year but the performance problem just started yesterday. I also was thinking it may be the feul filter, but if that was the case would the problem not be all the time rather than only after 15 miles of so? I don't want to replace the feul pump or filter if those are not the problem, seeing how you have to remove the feul tank to do so and due to the fact that those pumps are not cheap. While searching for the feul pump hopeing that it would be in an easier area to get to I noticed an orange can type device on the passanger side of the car just below the rear door, it has a feul line running to it and from it, is this the filter or something else? Thank You in advance for your time and knowledge.


Answer
John,

It sounds like it's your fuel pump. If your fuel pump is staying on after your car has been running for more than 10-15 seconds, your fuel pump is bad. It either has a bad ground or a short. And a dirty fuel filter will cause the problems you are saying. Sometimes it takes that long for the dirt to get up and plug the hole. Hope that this helps. If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. Good luck.


Ken