Well We took the van to chicago recently and it did great, but as soon as we got back we started having troubles. My gf was halfway to the park and the car suddenly died with no warning. I made it out there and tried starting it. It was cranking and wanted to start but that was it, so i opened the fuse panel and checked the fuel pump fuse to make sure it wasnt blown, it was in good condition. so after about 10 minutes of scratching my head, i tried starting it again and it fired right up no problem. drove it to the park and back home with nothing wrong. soon as i get home it wont start, same symptoms, cranking but wont run.
I keep thinking it was a fuel problem, so i pulled the fuel filter and it was plugged pretty good, new filter on and it fired right up, took it for a test drive and it died on me, let it sit 5 minutes or so and it started right up. drove home with no problems. I put a cheap fuel pressure gauge on it on the line going to the fuel rail and the gauge only goes to 15psi, and when cranking/running its pegged past 15psi. so now im assuming with this gauge its getting fuel, its cranking, what else could i check for besides spark? without pulling a plug and visually checking for spark how else could i make sure its getting spark?

when its dead and i crank it and it wont start it will fire up alittle, tach will read out 500rpm or less, but putters and dies, its hard to explain, but it doesnt really start up but it looks and sounds like it was starting to run, but didnt really get all the way there if that makes since. thats all the symptoms i can think of, and im hoping someone here has had the same problem and can help me out or steer me in the right direction!

I've got a few old cars carburated with not computers and they are pretty easy to troubleshoot, but these newer cars with computers if they dont run i expect the worst!

is this the 3400 engine? it sounds like when the crank position sensor starts to go out, its more related to heat not fuel. the engine cools it runs again

Sounds like you have a tired fuel pump. You should have 45-48 psi

jwfirebird- im not sure 3400 engine, but its the 3.4 L engine, and i dont know about it being heat unless the engine could cool off enough for it to start in about 5 minutes... are you saying the crank positions sensor will not read when the engine is too hot?

Danthurs- believe me thats the first thing i thought of, and i had a cheap fuel pressure gauge laying in the garage and hooked it up but it only reads to 15 psi... orielly has a pretty nice gauge that reads to 100 psi that i was going to get on pay day. and i read about fuel pumps going out and a few people said the car could surge or run crappy if the pump was going out, but i dont know, i thought of fuel pumps like starters, they dont seem to just quite, they work and then they dont, then they do.

thanks for the help so far guys.

You are missing spark or fuel. If your plugs are firing, the fuel pump is a good suspect (it can fail gradually and supply partial pressure). If your plugs are not firing, the crank shaft position sensor if a good suspect. When they start to fail, they have a tendency to work when cold, and not work when hot.

Determine if you are getting spark to the plugs and let us know.

2kg4u- I looked through to see where the crankshaft position sensor is and how to test it, but my multimeter is shot, and one source said the sensor was in a well behind the powersteering pully but the intake is in the way. need to get a chilton or haynes.
i'll test for spark first, but i just went out there and it fired right up... need to get it to die then test for spark.

ok well i found the problem, spent 10 minutes trying to see if it would die, decided to shut it off and start it back up, it fired right up, so i did it again and it wouldnt fire, looked at the fuel pressure and it showed 12psi. still wanted to check spark and it is getting spark.
so now to shop for a fuel pump on pay day.
thanks for the help guys!

Good luck.

Thanks i'll deffinately need it! looks like it isnt going to be too easy!

Biggest pain will be dropping the gas tank.