Fuel problem

About two weeks ago my car (86 v6 3.8 auto) started acting like it was running out of gas but it wasn’t, I know that because I had just filled up about three or four days before. At first it wasn’t to bad but progressively got a little worse as time went on. I went to Schucks and picked up some oil because the light was on, and some heater hose (already needed it). It ran better for a while but then started acting up again, so I went back to Schucks and got an air filter because the old one was all crapped out. Once again it ran better for a few days but about four days ago, I was driving home from school and the engine stalled for a second, then I could hear the injectors shoot some gas into the intake, then keep going. Sometimes it does this several times in a row. Yesterday (11-29-04) I went back to Schucks to ask then what it could be and they said that something is probable clogged up. So I picked up some fuel system cleaner and put it in the gas tank. Of course it ran better for the rest of the day, only acting up once leaving the parking lot, but driving around today it started doing it again and I don’t really know what else it could be. If anyone has any ideas PLEASE RESPOND, I don’t want to have this problem turn into something bigger. Thanx FMF

Change your fuel filter.

It was replaced about 7 months ago, so could it already need to be changed?

Depends on if you had some bad/dirty gas since then. It may or may not need it but the symptoms you describe are similar to that of a dirty filter. It'll run fine for a while but as the filter gets clogged it starves the engine. If it dies and you let the car sit for a while the sediment settles and the fuel has a clear path through the filter until it clogs again. It's worth a try and is a cheap part to replace.

I think you might be right about the gas. The last few times ive filled up ive gotin the cheap stuff. Time to swich back to Cheveron lol. And as for the filter, ill give it a try and post back within the nevt few days, thanx a bunch

I put in a new filter today and drove it around a bit and seemed to be doing better. Thanx for the help, ill drive it around a bit more to make sure thats what it was. FMF

I hope you have a few more tricks up your sleeve because the problem is still occurring, but has toned down a bit

I would say to pull any codes. You should get 3 sets. Hard codes, soft codes, and intermittent codes. Make sure to pull them when the car is acting up because the issue doesn't sound like it's setting any hard codes and causing the CEL to come on.

actually i ran around for a while today and it only acted up one or twice. after the filter it is running a lot better, but getting the codes would still be worth a shot.

Today coming home from school it had another one of its little fits but this time the battery light came on for a split second. What could have caused it to do that? The only thing that I can think of is the battery itself, but I don’t know how that would effect the gas flow.

hi i had the same problem with my 89 t-bird it turned out i had a bad tps sencor and a maf wire was burned hope it can help you

pull the codes it may be am O2 prob..

could be electrical too with the battery light randomly popping on like that