This morning while my car was warming up the gas light came on. Since a car should have about 30 or so miles left on it after that, I just left right away to get to a gas station. Well, about 100 yards from my driveway, up a hill, the car cuts off. I walked back to my garage to get a gas can, and put about 3 gallons of gas in my car. It still wouldn't crank. Did it not crank because that 3 g. wasn't enough to reach the lines? Either way, it shouldn't have just cut off.

It's possible that the cut-off was unrelated to the gasoline level. Forget the gasoline for the moment - have you had any work done to the car recently or have some repairs needed you have put off? How many miles are on the car? What engine?

Like Brian was suggesting you may need maintenance......


You said:

Well, about 100 yards from my driveway, up a hill, the car cuts off.

"up a hill" would put what little gas you have left out of reach of the fuel pick-up. Also replace the fuel filter. Running a tank dry gets any rust particles and whatever else is in your tank.....in your fuel line.

Like Brian was suggesting you may need maintenance......


You said:

Well, about 100 yards from my driveway, up a hill, the car cuts off.

"up a hill" would put what little gas you have left out of reach of the fuel pick-up. Also replace the fuel filter. Running a tank dry gets any rust particles and whatever else is in your tank.....in your fuel line.

scratch that last statement, I'm thinking of lawn mowers............I'm having some drain bamage this morning.

scratch that last statement, I'm thinking of lawn mowers............I'm having some drain bamage this morning.

lol, its all good, i have been having plenty of that lately.

so pushed it back to level ground. obviously the amount of gas isnt the problem. my dad helped me out a little, he informed me the battery was bad, which i replaced immediately, but that didnt help. he also said something about putting gas in the carboretor to help it crank, will that work on fuel injection? i just dont want to have it towed if its something that simple. as far as maintenence goes, it was serviced about 700 miles ago. if something electrical cuts off because for any reason would that cause the fuel pump to quit?

I was trying to understand what else may be wrong. There may be a problem like a broken timing belt or something totally unrelated to gas. Just for laughs, take off the distributor cap and make sure the distributor shaft turns when you crank the engine. Also, check the ignition wires to make sure one didn't just pull off. If I was a betting man, I'd bet your timing belt broke, but you'd have to give me odds.

Forget adding gas to get it to kick over. Your catalytic converter will hate you for it.

If you believe it is a gas supply problem, check the fuel flow and pressure at the injector manifold. While you're at it, check to see if you are getting spark at the plugs.

There are some signals that are necessary for the ECM to get. If it doesn't get these signals, it won't turn on the fuel pump.

thanks a lot, i will check it out and get back to you soon.

If you make a habit of running the gas down to empty so the fuel warning light comes on, you may need to change the fuel pump.
The owner's manual recommends keeping the fuel level above the 1/4 mark on the gauge.
As the fuel circulates (return line bathes the pump) it cools the fuel pump, so if you regularly run the fuel level down low, the pump runs hotter and fails sooner.