Thank goodness for AAA and free tows; Car lost power at about 60 mph. Pushing gas pedal gave no response. Tach stayed up until car stopped. Tried to restart, just cranked. Checked codes while waiting for tow, no codes. Seems like a fuel problem.

Checked inertia switch - good. Swapped fuel pump relay with one of the others. Tried to restart, just cranking. Checked fuel rail schrader valve after all that cranking... just a dribble cam out.

It looks like the fuel pump may be dead. Just filled tank yesterday (first tank in a year) so that will suck.

 

It's not something I've seen others have trouble with but my 99 XJR showed up in my driveway with some sort of jumper (non-stock) under a couple of the fuel pump relay terminals. I pulled the extra wire and my fuel pump wouldn't turn on.
I figured the extra wire may have been helping make electrical contact by stuffing more material into the harness connector in the relay box. I flashed a thin coating of solder on the terminals of the relay and my problems were solved, well that problem anyway.
Cheap fix and worth a try, connectors don't usually relax, in my experience, but this one seemed to have...

 

FWIW, A few years ago I drove 2 blocks to my mailbox, b4 doing errands & when I tried to start the car, same symptoms as yours. Ended up being towed to dealer & getting new fuel pump. They drained the gas tank & then put the gas back in. If you are DIY, there must be a way to drain your gas tank. Maybe you can use most of that drained gas in another car?

BTW, if you had the same tank of gas for a full year, doesn't that cause issues? Maybe even problems with the fuel pump.

 

It's been stormy here and I put in my back garage, so I haven't been able to get to it, yet.

I'm getting great suggestions. And if it turns out to be the fuel pump, the recent new gas after a year of old gas is probably what killed it.

Going to check the voltage at the FP relay, then jump it with a wire to see if I can get some FP noise. Then thinking about making a noid light out of an LED bulb and wire so I can visually see when the FP relay switches on/off.

Also going to try the "AAA method" for fixing a bad fuel pump which is wacking the fuel tank with a rubber mallet while the motor is being cranked. This actually fixed my Brother in-law's SUV, recently and saved him a tow.

 

I jumped the Fuel pump relay and it sounds like the FP is running. But there is still no fuel at the schrader valve.

Does anyone have a picture of Fuel Pump assy? Is there a rubber hose in the tank from the Pump to the hardlines that could have burst? 20 Years is about the time all of my other car's high pressure fuel lines cracked/burst.

 

Might want to change the fuel filter since you can hear the pump running. Cheap to do and might solve the problem.

 

+1 @ start w/ the fuel filter.

 

I'm definitely changing the fuel filter, but the pump is super quiet and stays at a constant note when it runs and it doesn't sound like a pump that is building pressure against a blockage (or drawing any amps).

I would think a pump fighting a blocked filter would at least strain a little and get louder as the pressure builds up and jumping across the relay would make even a little spark (it didn't).

I hope the filter fixes it, but right now that seems wishful thinking on my part.

 

I had similar issues on external Bosch pumps that were sitting for long periods of time. I bench tested one of them and it was running slow and quiet. Hitting the pump repeatedly with a plastic hammer while connected to power caused it to suddenly run fast. But, after disconnecting the power and connecting again, it went to the low speed again. I cut it open and found that the copper segments on the commutator had oxidised and shiny black in colour (as if they were plastic). The segments were not warn at all as the pump had done very low mileage. It appears that, if the pump is sitting for too long, it will develop this oxide coating on the commutator which causes high resistance between the commutator segments and the carbon brushes causing the motor to run slowly.

A couple of questions: did you use any fuel additive e.g. injector cleaner and was the petrol you bought on that day the kind you normally use or something "special". With regard to injector cleaner, I recently experienced problem with fairly new (external) fuel pumps on two of my cars after I poured in Bardahl injector cleaner into the tanks. These are the cars that I seldom use and, when I tried to start them about a week later, the fuel pumps on both of them would not run at all and did not draw any current. I then replaced the pump on one of the cars with a brand new one. This car had higher concentration of Bardahl as it had less petrol in the tank when I poured the staff in. The car started fine and I left it. Just 3 days later, when I tried to start this car again - same problem, the new pump did not run. I managed to get it going by hitting it with a plastic hammer. I then removed the pumps from both cars and I then "bench run" all three of them with fresh petrol (had to hit them a bit to get them going) and I managed to restore their normal operation. Of course, I drained all the petrol with Bardahl.

My conclusion is: "do not use any petrol additive unless it is your daily driver" and, in any case, "do not let the fuel pumps sit too long". It seems that Bardahl injector cleaner accelerates the oxidisation of the copper commutator and, if the pump is not run frequently so that the brushes wipe-off any oxide layer, the oxide will build-up and isolate the carbon brushes.

Perhaps you can try disconnecting the fuel filter, connect a hose to the line coming from the pump and loop it back into the tank. Then put the jumper in and let the pump run for a bit linger while listening to its sound. It may eventually come to full speed. Hitting the fuel tank somewhere with a rubber mallet may help the pump's brushes break through the oxide coating on the commutator.

 

Removed the Fuel filter and gas came pouring out. I was running to other cars to empty my 5 gallon gas can. It eventually sputtered to a stop after over 13 gallons came out.

The fuel filter obviously needed changing (it didn't flow gas very well), but the siphoning tank seemed to indicate a leak between the pump and the outlet, which was what I suspected because the pump didn't seem loaded when jumpered and there was no pressure at the rail..

I slid the tank out using a step ladder:

The lockring on the tank had obviously been opened before. Inside the tank, the pump and sock looked pretty recent... but the hose had popped off the pump. the hose slid right onto the pump without loosening the hose clamp... there was the problem. The restrictive filter may caused it to pop off.

I cranked the hose clamp down tight and pushed the tank back in... but ran out of daylight. Tomorrow I'll finish re-assembling and see if it starts.