stalling at 1/4 tank

[emopunksucksnuts]

i recently bought an 88 corsica. it runs great, and so far i have only had a single problem with it. I fill up my gas tank, and it runs wonderfully. at about a half tank, it runs kind of sluggishly, and sometimes when i make sharp turns, it stalls. then when i get to a quarter tank, it stalls, and is hard to keep running for more than a couple minutes, regardless of speed or turns. i thought it might be bad gas, but then my buddy informed me that in the 88 it acutally sucks gas from the bottom of the tank. does anyone know what my problem could be? thanks in advance.

nick

[mike1224]

1.the sending unit may be bad (you could be empty but gague gets signal that its 1/4)
2.dented tank?
3.well, bad gas could be cause if this is first occurance. Is it? if so, try another station.
4. something foreign and solid in the tank, causing a misread.

[silicon212]

As above, check the sending unit - but also check the pickup. The sending unit is easy enough to check without even taking anything apart - just wait until it gets to the point at which it wants to stall, then fill it up - as in top it off. Note how much gas it takes to do that vs. how large the tank in the Corsica is.


If the pickup tube is damaged, or the screen fell off, this could cause the problem too.

[emopunksucksnuts]

okay, i didnt have enough money to fill up my tank, not until friday (poor bastard) i ran it to the point where it was very hard to keep started, and i knocked on the bottom of my tank, it sounded like there was still some gas in there. The tank is not dented, and this is not the first time occurance. it happens every time.

nick

[mike1224]

bought it in last 30 days? if so, check to see if your state has "lemon laws." If they sold you a vehicle that is some way, shape, or form, you are entitled to a refund, usually minus milage.

[cranked up]

ceck for water in the tank. i ran into this problem several times. water gets into the under ground tanks at the gas station and if those tanks are low, you get the water. since the water is heaveir than gas, you won't have a problem until a low tank. sometimes a bottle of "heat" would help. maybe at several gas fills.

[silicon212]

Actually, since the pickup is at the bottom of the tank, the water would be the FIRST to be inhaled by the fuel pump, not gas, so if there was sufficient water in the tank the car would not run at all, regardless of the tank level.

[superchuckles]

if this car uses an electric fuel pump - which it probably does - then your pickup tube is sucking air when your tank is low or making hard corners (my truck does this when i make right turns close to empty & i'm just too lazy to deal with it, but anyhow...). since the pump is most likely located inside the tank, you'll have to drop it to deal with it - but it sounds like dropping it wouldn't be a bad idea anyhow. it's not hard to do (actually, it's really easy - only a couple of bolts hold the straps, plus the clamp from the fill tube, and of course the hoses that go to and from the engine/emission system and wire for float). shouldn't take more than about 10 minutes at the most to drop it, & then you can check everything about it.... pickup tube, fuel lines, etc. even if yours has an electric pump outside the tank, it's still likely the same problem (pickup and/or pickup tube has a leak somewhere so it's sucking air instead of fuel).