All electric fuel pumps, regardless of the make or model of car, have a finite lifespan. Since your car is now getting on for 20 years of age, it’s a fair bet the pump is due for replacement. These pumps spend their lives submerged in fuel, pumping it from the tank to the engine is pretty extreme conditions. So it’s really no surprise when they give up the ghost after several years of this type of treatment.

Sometimes you’ll be lucky and detect the pump either getting lazy or failing to work on an intermittent basis. If that’s the case, the message is to get the pump replaced pronto. In other cases (and it’s pretty common) the pump will simply go from working perfectly one day to not working at all the next. And given the way electronically controlled engines work, if the pump isn’t working, there’s no way the car will start or run.