I roadtripped this weekend 500 miles one way, and then back, and now I notice when I turn, (ecspecially left turns), it feels like my fuel pump cuts out or something. Is that a sign that its going?

 

anyone?

 

This is somewhat common when the filter screen in the gas tank is very very dirty and the tank has not been drained and cleaned for quite a while.

 

cause you slush all your gas to one side probably, fuel pumps don't like to suck on fumes too much I'd imagine, and a pump that's made to pump a liquid USUALLY isn't very good at pumping a gas (vapors), and vice versa.

 

Agreed to above. Won't happen with a full tank. If it does, get back to us.

 

i'm somewhat curious about this also..it has happend in my 87 n/a a # of times,hard left turns only,and i dont think fuel level was a big factor...if it was the fuel pump cutting out,would there not be a more delayed reaction,while the pressure bleeds down in the system?
~d

 

think about this for a second.

the pump is in the left hand side of the tank, when you do hard left hand turns, all the gas slops to the right hand side of the tank, think back a second, where is the pump? on the left, if the gas is on the right and the pump is on the left, what have you got? a pump trying to suck nothing but fumes.........

i have never had that problem with over 1/2 a tank in the car, with under 1/3 of a tank when doing long hard left hand turns i got fuel starvation. you can remedy this either with a surge tank or a redesigned fuel tank which cant get surge

 

I know someone with an '88 SE that had it happen with a full tank. There have been others in the forum who've reported the same problem (full tank).

I think it's one of the few mysteries about the car no-one has solved yet.

 

I've had it with a full tank. Had it with pretty much every condition tank, only prob is, I haven't had time to get to the fuel pump to try the filter yet....I HATE WORK!

 

If the screen is all clogged up or the tank has water or other crap in it because you or the previous owner forgot basic maintenance it won't matter.

Gee... Ever notice this problem gets posted more in the winter? Do you think that this happens more in winter??? Well it does... one word Condensation.

90 percent of the time when this problem happens it’s because the tank hasn't been drained and cleaned for a while as well as the fuel pump inlet screen is dirty.

The other 5% is that the fuel pump is failing and overheating.

And the final 5% is the connections... either electrical of mechanical.

Common guy’s basic Japanese car stuff here

 

alright guys, I have a half tank right now, when she gets down to fumes, whichll probally be in a few days, Im gonna take off my tank and clean her out. Now where is this screen you all are saying I should clean?

 

You'll see it right on the pump

 

Alright, Ill post the update here in a couple days I suppose.

 

A good quart bottle of Methyl hydrate alcohol will fix the water problem.
Gasoline and water do not mix. Thus, it strays mostly in the gas tank, and causes rust and other bad stuff. It also does damage to fuel filters.
Methyl hydrate bonds to water, and then allows it to mix with gasoiline and be easily burnt.
Car shops sell it under "gas line antifreeze" or fuel system water/condensation remover", but is 3-4 tiomes more expensive than methyl hydrate, and is the exact same stuff.
Methyl hydrate burns very cleanly, and will help with passing emissions, but has a different air fuel ratio, so with too much you can't floor the engine. One quart to a half tank or more will have no affect on a/f ratio.
Its also a little hard on rubber parts, so unless you switch to nitrile o-rings and fuel lines, don't run it all the time.

As for cleaning the tank, add some fuel system cleaner, or carb cleaner, or brake system cleaner, and a good piece of clean small link chain and slosh the chain around in the tank, then clean the pump.
Sean Cathcart