My Gran Prix GT 3800 stalls when its used around town in start and stop and restart situations.It fails to hold its idle.It seems to do better when the A/C is not on the high position.No over heating present on the temp guage. A poorly grounded or a bad distributor module?

Does it stumble and then stall, idle rough and then stall, or just shut off?

A stumble and stall would have me looking at fuel.

Idle rough and stall would have me looking for a vacuum leak.

Just shut off I would be looking at ignition system, such as a poorly grounded ICM or a bad crank sensor.

When you go to restart it after a small run it simply does not hold an idle and the rpm'* falls to nothing - below 800-900 as normally held or so - and then oil light is on - it stalls - in no time flat at all.Its difficult to restart sometimes as well.

I'm gonna take a shot and guess this is a dying fuel pump.

I've been told this before - and the guy said the fuel presure was low on it too. So you just confirmed it for me - althought the car has been driven quite some distance like that. So what is the best pump to buy? A GM pump only? There are so many after market pumps.Question is are they any good and long lasting? Can I just change or clean the pumps screen and the pump itself ...and hope for the best?

I've been researching this, too, and here are my findings.

Is your car stock? If so, the OEM fuel pump will do just fine, and you'll save a few bucks, too. The stock fuel pump, I believe, pumps about 40 gallons per hour, which should be good for up to around 300 bhp.

If you need more than that, I've heard good things about TRE Performance'* fuel pumps, which go up to around 65-70 gallons per hour (about 40% stronger), which TRE says will fuel an engine up to 600 bhp.

Don't forget to replace your fuel filter afterwards. That new pump could pull up some crud that the old one was too weak to grab.

if you measured the fuel pressure and its low i guess that would be the problem, when was the last time you changed your fuel filter? also do you feel any power lost? also check your MAF my first 3800 used to stall and shut off when i had a bad MAF

Yep, fuel pump. If it was tested low that should have told you right away where the problem is.

If I were going sensor based, I'd look at TPS, IAC and MAF first. Since you heard that fuel pressure is a questionable item. I'd go right to the pump.

Wanna save some coin and get a good pump? TREPerformance.com is where I pick up all my pumps these days. The prices are tough to beat. I've had a couple of their pumps in my Bonneville and truck for about 4 years now. No issues or complaints. These are gaining speed in the W body community as well.

Thread Title expanded and moved to it'* proper Mechanical Section. General Chat is for items that affect all platforms and "General Chat". It really helps the GearHeads, others with ownership of same/similar Models, the Forum regarding search bots, and our own internal search engine when we keep things in order. Thanx.

PRAISETEAMOF2, could you please put you Year and Model in your signature area when you have the chance? It really help GearHeads and similar model owners out if they know what you own without having to search.