It's easy to check if your fuel pumps are operating correctly, and less messy than hooking up a pressure gauge. well, one thing is if your main fuel pump under the car is dead, the car will not run, period. if your in-tank pump is bad, it could be causing the symptoms you describe. you can check it by either listening at the filler neck for a soft whirr, or by accessing the the sending unit cover in the trunk and connecting a multimeter set to amps, use the 10A setting to be safe, between the hot lead going to the pump and its terminal on the sending unit. it should draw current, and less than an amp, if im not mistaken. if you get no current, the pump is dead. both pumps should be fairly quiet and not draw too much current. you can check the main pump's current draw at the fusepanel, by removing its fuse and connectling the meter between the terminals. somebody help me out here, i dont remember how much it should draw. too much may mean its working too hard because the in-tank pump is bad or there is another pressure problem, or it could be on it's way out. so you may need to test pressure as well, if the results of the electrical tests are inconclusive. it's really common for the in-tank pump to fail, and it's not a very expensive part. let's cross our fingers for that one, as the main pump runs well over $300..