Yesterday I was headed to the store for gas, I knew I was extremely low. Got about 1/4 of a mile and the car stumbles and dies. I call up a buddy who happened to have a gas tank of gas. He said he was pretty sure it was good and I was ok to use it. Well unsure of just how good the gas was I poored about a galon in the car. Enough to get me to the 7-11, Or so I thought. The car stumbles and puts around a bit then eventually catches and runs fine for a bit. I get to a stop light hold on for a sec. then get going. I moved about 10-15 feet and the putter/stumble comes back and I coast. I figured I was catching fumes and not gas. So my buddy goes and gets me some more gas in a fresh tank. We poor 2 gallons in and the car gets running fine. I move 10-15 more feet and the car died. Since then the car has not started back up.

We bought a can of ether and sprayed MIST of it and tried to burn some of the gunk off the plugs (We assumed the plugs had been fouled) To no avail. So tonight I syphoned some of the gas out of the tank and only got about 2 gallons but we had put 4 gallons of GOOD gas in not including the bad crap I put in. The car will turn over but not fire and run.

Apparently the gas my buddy thought was ok is not so 'good' or at least that is the conclusion we've come to unless it sounds to you all like it might be something else.

Any Ideas as to what Ive gotten myself into and what I can do to fix this problem?

 

ill throw in my 2 cents...Can you hear the fuel pump? test the pressure at the fuel rails and see if its normal. My thinking is you could have burned up the fuel pump when it ran out of gas.

 

Get a fuel pressure test gauge and hook it up to the fuel rail. You might have fried your pump witht the low gas. When the key is turned on, the pump runs for 2 seconds (you should hear it), then shuts off. You might cycle the key a couple of times to see what the gauge says.

Could be a coincidence, but you might want to check for spark, too.

 

Thanks for the quick response guys.
I can hear the pump just as I always have. When I syphoned (Sp?) the "bad gas" out and got 2gal. I got back in the car and turned the key to see what the gauge would say and the needle went WELL past full, almost touching the Temp. gauge. I figured when I tapped down the Gas Tank tube Id broken the gas tank, I went back to the store and bought 4 more gallons of good gas and put it in. Turn the key and the gas gauge came back down to 3/4 of a tank.

Where can I get a pressure tester?

 

Most auto parts stores will carry them on the shelf.

 

I would also check the fuel filter.

Kevin

 

I'd also check the fuses under hood and such...If the ignition fuse blows, it'll crank til it's heart's content and never fire.

 

Ok, Hey do you think spraying that ether could have screwed anything up? I hate that crap, make me nervous.

 

Also, Why would the gauge have gone so far past full after I syphoned(sp?) the gas out?

 

Why would you spray ether? where?

How did you siphon out the gas? Did you get a tube stuck in the tank? Sounds like you messed up the float.

Either way, it sounds like you need to check your fuel pressure and go from there.

 

MOST DEFINITLY check your fuel filter. Running the tank that low who knows what particles you sucked in at the bottom of the tank, fuel filter is prob cloged as hell. Buy one for $5 or so at pepboys, put it in, if that doesn't help check the fuel presure. I would think you could have burned the pump also since our pumps require fuel to cool down. Just my .02

 

We sprayed ether thinking the plugs had become fouled. Our intention was to burn the gunk off. We stood a good 1.5ft away from the intake and let the mist flow down through the intake.



Tonight Im going to go buy a Fuel Filter and Pressure Gauge. I'll let you all know what happens.

Any other ideas in the mean time would be appreciated.

 

Update:
Took off the original fuel filter and it was gunked up like no other. So we ran down to the store, got a new one to no avail. We pull the filter back off and turn the key with no filter to see if the pump is pushing gas out. Well it pushed gas out but it was VERY VERY light. It was a quick squirt with very little pressure. I dont think that, that light of pressure would have taken gas from the tank to the injectors.

I do have a fuel pressure tester but it cost me $45 and Id like to not use it if I dont have to. So do you guys think that I should or go ahead and replace the fuel pump?

Any other Ideas or suggestions would be great.

 

Gas should gush out pretty good with the filter off. You might try jumpering 12v to the prime connector to keep the pump on for a test.

 

If I jump it, What am I testing for? To see if it gets stronger the longer it runs? Does it sound like the fuel pump isnt pressurizing? I can use the Pressure test if need be, I just figured since it didnt come out very hard I could save my mony.