Hmmm, car problems - loss of power

[SandyDeet]

A friend suggested I post here. I have 96 Chevy Blazer. It has been running fine ('cept for needing a new battery, as I have had to jump it every morning this week). Today I drove into town without a hitch. On my way home (same tank of gas) I felt a momentary bogging down, and then it was fine. 10 minutes later as I hit my first hill (most of the way home is either uphill or downhill), I felt it starting to bog down. The harder I stepped on the gas pedal, the more power it loss. If I let up on the gas, I would get a momentary slight increase in power, and then it would continue to bog down until it finally died. At first I thought I was dead in the water, but I tried turning over the engine and it fired right up. As soon as I put it drive and tried to give it some gas it bogged down again. I was able to drive it home with many many stops along the roadside to restart the engine. I kind of got the fee for not asking too much of it and very slowly increasing the pressure on the gas pedal. Sometimes that helped and others it just bogged down until it finally died. It did seem to drive fine allowing me to increase the pressure on the pedal and increase the speed on all downhill declines, but as soon as I got to the bottom adn had to start up the next incline, it was back to 5 -10 miles an hour until it died. At most I think I was able to go a mile or maybe a mile and a half before I had to restart the engine. Sometimes it was mere feet (these were on inclines). Not sure how but the battery lasted through 20 or 30 starts <YAY>. Any thoughts? I know absolutely nothing about cars, but my gut says fuel pump, fuel filter, or a ping pong ball that keeps getting sucked up against the intake of the fuel tank (LOL, I'm thinking of my carpet shampooer here). Hubby won't be home for several days, and I am dead in the water. It was a tough summer season, and we are off season now, so funds are pretty scarce for emergencies. I hope this doesn;t have to wait until winter when we will be back in season <sigh>.

[remy1492]

Could be oxygen sensor also. My engine did the same thing, the problem was it was literally coming loose at 70K miles. Tigthened up the engine and seals and it was good.

Thought maybe an EMP went off by you or something at first.

[The_Jazz]

It sounds like a leaky fuel pump to me.

[Jinn]

+1 for Fuel Pump.

I've also seen similiar behavior from a clogged exhaust system. My girlfriend's Audi had one of two catalytic converters completely obstructed and there was hesitation on hard acceleration and bogging at high RPMs. Assuming it is not an electrical issue, bogging is either not enough fuel, not enough air, or nowhere for the burned fuel+air to go.

[Craven Morehead]

clogged fuel filter?