Thread: car wont stay running longer than a few seconds

I was out and about today and i noticed my check engine light came on. There were no drivability problems. I headed home and about 3 blocks away from there the car just cut off. I could restart it immediatley, and it would run fine for a few seconds, then stumble and cut off agian. I went home and got a scanner which said code PO171 (lean bank) and a fuel pressure tester. My pressure was 45PSi or so when i turned the key on, and it would hold that value I'll say indefinately. When I started the car the pressure began to plumet until the the engine just would not run any longer. Since I have 257K mi, I figured that looked like a fuel filter. I put a new filter in it on the side of the road, but that did not change anything. I ended up figureing if i started it and put it in gear, I could drive a hundred feet or so before it would cut off, so I drove it all the way home by doing this.

Once home i see that there is some kind of stuff in the relay panel that says "fuel pump sence". What is that all about? Does this thing have an independant speed controller on it? If I need to put a new pump in , I'll do it, but I want to make sure Im not overlooking anything.

Suggestions? I have a meter and am competant with it, so if there are some signals you recommend I check let me know.
Thanks
Shawn

BTW, how do you get the tank out? it looks like a major PITA with the rear suspenstion crossbrace thing in the way of the fuel tank connections. any tips?

I did some searching and found references to the resistor just now as well. If I jump it out, can i run that way indefinately? or do i jump it just to test, then required to fix it right before actually driving long distance again?

where it is located? I just went out and looked "Beside the battery" and I dont see anything that looks like a resistor. Where did you find it?

Thanks.
and also now Im seeing that people can "jump it out" by bending a pin on one of the fuel pump relays... however, I cannot find which relay, nor which pin. Is it true that I can bend one of the pins on the bottom of the relay and it will effectively "bypass" the resistor? Please elaborate how to do this. thanks'

thanks for the pic, but before that was posted I found on Youtube where a guy showed you how to replace the actual resistor. I found where the plug was, right behind the headlight, and in front of the battery. I unplugged it, and jumped it with a wire. the car started and ran perfectly. I taped this rig up real good so it wont short out then test drove the car. All systems go! man Im glad I checked here before I bought that 250.00 fuel pump! Thanks everyone!

For future reference, the trunk has a access panel in the trunk for the fuel pump under the carpet near the pass through.