i was out wheelin on thursday night and the kia was running really well for about an hour and then on the way out i started to lose power in a big way. started to run extremely rough, almost like it wasnt running on all cylinders. it continued to get worse and worse until it finally sputtered out and died. after towing it home i tried running a shot of ether in the air intake to start it and it ran smooth and extremely well until the ether burned up and then it would sputter out and die. i figured it was either a bad fuel filter or a bad pump. i disconected the out line from the filter and cranked it over and there is plenty of fuel flowing through both, so i have no idea what it could be. any ideas on what i could try next?

I could flow plenty of fuel, but at the right pressure? Have your fuel pressure checked, change the filter first (it's easier) Check your pressure regulator, and if your pressure is low change the pump.

Dennis

Did you hold your finger over the line? It shouldn't take much pressure to get you, at low rpm's, out of anyware. My biggest problem was the dual coil pack setup. The wiring harness that feeds the coils went bad. No luck rigging that. Good luck.

what is the fuel pressure supposed to be?

40-50 PSI is OK.

well i finally got my pressure tested and its 35 psi, is that low enough its going to cause problems. also, there is no pressure unless it is being cranked over, thats not normal right? is there maybe a bad relay somewhere that causes it to not pump fuel?

i believe the fuel pump should run for 10 seconds and if the ecu doesnt pick up a signal from the coils then it shuts off. turn the key "off" then to "on" it should run for a little bit, you will be able to hear it. but, from what you are describing it should start but then die pretty directly. unless 35 is indeed too low of pressure. hope any of that helps at all. please let us know what it ends up being.

The Kia fuel system stays presureized when it is off. The fuel pump does not come on untill the engine is running. If you have a owners manual it will tell you what terminals to jumper on your diagnostic port to run your pump with the engine off. I think the 96's are still OBD 1, if its OBD 2 I don't know if this will work.

Dennis

ok, finally broke down and took it to the shop after replacing the filter and pump. they threw a big fancy reader on it to talk to my computer. turns out my computer thought that it was running super rich and was cutting all the fuel to my engine. after talking to the mechanic he said he could try to "trick" my computer into being right, or i could replace the computer. i told him to trick it of course, why not its already broken right? im not sure what he did, but he modified my MAF sensor and she runs great now. best it ever has. anyway, thanks to you all for your input and ideas! its great to be able to take her out wheelin again!