Yup broke down....., Could this happen? Options

[oldschool]

Last sunday I drove my car to church/work it was about 100 degrees as I was driving on the fwy it started to lose power (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) , I pulled over and sure enough it would not start. It felt like vapor lock...
Could this happen while I'm driving????
after a bit it fired right up.

[jcd914]

IMHO One of the contributing factors is the hot air from the heater system.

When ever the engine is running air is always being blown through the heat exchangers. It flows from the engine fan housing through the heat exchangers and out through the flapper valves (heat control valves). When you pull up on the heat lever you open the flapper valve and route some of that air into the passenger compartment. When you are not using the heater all the hot air is dumped out of the flapper valve through the bell shaped cover. The passenger flapper valve is very close to the fuel pump and all that hot air (on a hot day when you are not using the heater) dumps into the lower right front corner of the engine compartment where the fuel pump is. This has to add to adds to the heat soak of the fuel pump.

So getting the hot air discharged from the heat exchanger away from the fuel pump is helpful, especially considering it hot ambient air coming into the engine fan and then into the heat exchanger where it is heated even more.

On several car I have removed the bell from the passenger flapper valve and added a short piece of corrugated aluminum flex tubing and bent it to route the heated air away from the fuel pump. The flex tubing is the type used on some VW defrosters or some heated air cleaners on domestic cars, about 1 1/2 inch diameter. Use a hose clamp to hold it on and point it down and back away from the pump.

Works well and is cheap and quick.
I like cheap and easy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Jim