Pontiac Repair: 1996 Pontiac Grand Prix, pontiac grand prix, rust belt

Question
My car has started to loose power going up hills mostly, but is getting worse and is doing it now just driving down the road. Its kind of like it is skipping, maybe the fuel is not getting thru? but i brought it in somewhere and they told me that it would cost over 1000 to replace the fuel pump. does this sound correct, seems kind of expensive to me.

Answer
Hi Linda:

It could be any number of things but my first guess would be that it's loosing fuel pressure as well. You could also have some ignition problem to. That year and I assume it's a 3100 V6 engine the fuel injectors are pretty prone to plug up and cause this kind of an issue as well. Has any service engine light come on? If it were "skipping" bad enough the engine computer should trip the light on and if it's bad enough the light will flash... Now back to your original part of the question. The fuel pump on that car is not really all that expensive maybe $200.00 but if you live in the rust belt like I do it gets expensive in a hurry like the sending unit maybe rotted out and maybe the straps that hold the tank up as well. The root to your fuel pump problem more than likely is a plugged fuel filter no one ever replaces them and they plug up and the pumps works it's self to death. So in closing more than likely it's a fuel pump/pressure problem but it's best to have someone properly diagnose it before any parts are changed. Good luck.