Fuel pump prime

[Paintjar]

From what I have read about concerning fuel pressure, this is new. Car died while driving. Coasted to a stop on the side of the road. would crank but acted like she wanted to start but no go. Had her towed home. Started to take steps. Was it getting fuel? Disconnected return line, turned the key, heard the pump prime, no gas coming out. Next disconnected the line in,turned the key on, no gas coming out after pump stopped. Tried to start with line disconnected. There was a short delay the gas came out of the line. Reconnected the line and she started. Very low and ruff idle. Test drive found the power was not there. At steady speed she would growl. I thought fuel should be coming out with just the key on priming the pump. My question, is should I work forward toward the injectors or to the rear towards the fuel pump? Thanks for help in direction of problem.

[J Wikoff]

I think there should at least be an initial spurt when keyed on. Not sure if it would continue or not.

There is a fuel pump test prime lead by the battery. Look for a green connector hanging above the battery and run a wire to it from the positive battery terminal to see if the pump will run. If it'll run that way, I'd look into the pump relay and filter first.

[96 SSEi]

a clogged fuel filter will overwork the pump and starve the engine: start there. next, I would check the fuel pressure regulator and pump. then, if no joy, work forward

[Paintjar]

Someone told me vapor lock would cause this. Don't know how that occurs. Never did this before. The ruff idle was the ignition control under the coils. Replaced. All is well. Thanks

[96 SSEi]

prime the pump by holding key in run position for 5 sec then open hood and see if fuel sprays out of valve on fuelrail.