I'm sorry for being annoying and thanks for any future help.
Ok, my car ran fine this morning. I went outside during my break to move it so I could quickly leave the parking lot without tearing off the front facia. It started up, ran about 10 seconds, then started sputtering and very slowly died. I tried starting it again and it almost ran before sputtering off. And again. That time, it just turned over. It felt to me (like I know anything....) like what it would feel like if I ran out of gas. I've got over 1/2 a tank.
*rant* I can't afford to fix this thing. I can't even afford to tow it home and it's illegal now to use a chain/strap. I can't afford to rent a car dolly or trailer. *cries*
Bad bad car. No more washings.
Bad fuel filter? You can change it were its at. Should cost less then 20.00 at the local auto parts store.
Not getting fuel... try filter (as previous post says) or maybe pump...
What year? How old? how many Km?
Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *
Bad fuel pump? You have to narrow the problem, to start an engine you need basically a strong spark and fuel. One way to test it would be to pour a little gas into the cylinders and try to start it, if it runs for a few seconds then dies the engine is not receiving enough gas to stay on. If it does not run probably it is not getting the spark it needs to fire. Get a friend with some knowledge to help you check it. Good luck.
It's a 2002 ls sport. About 52,000 miles.
Everyone that I talked to said it's fuel related most likely. I've been reading and if it is, it's probably my fault for riding around with the gas light on all the time (no money for gas sometimes.. too lazy to stop sometimes). My husband can fix cars. He just panics about newer cars (he's great at old muscle car stuff). He said something about disconnecting fuel lines and trying to start the car to see if fuel is moving. I'm just so frustrated. The car left me stranded about 50 miles from home working in a town with a population of about 1000. Stress.....
Thanks
sounds like a good ol gm fuel pump.
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it does sound like the pump try turning the key on (dont turn the engine over) and listen you should hear the pump turn on(make sure your radio is off) for a couple of seconds. if you dont hear anything its probably the pump or a relay. and yes disconnecting the fuel lines would be 1 way of seeing if the engine was getting fuel but ....really not the safest. if you do turn the key and dont hear anythingthe pump is either dead or not getting power.when it happened to me i just went and bought a new relay was cheap an i figured why not it wasnt it so i wasted time trying to figure out what else it could be mainly cause i didnt want to mess with the pump turns out it was the pump. it wasnt that hard to replace. 1 thing though if your gonna replace your pump do the filter at the same time. just to make sure your not putting any extra stress an a new pump
It's fixed!
It took about 2 hours to get the gas tank out and about 30/45 minutes to put in the fuel pump and reinstall the gas tank. It started right up. I've been carless for a week. It ended up being about $280 after tax.
To get long life for the gas pump according to the guys at the GM dealer "keep your gas tank always with more than 1/4" it makes sense since the gas is what cools off the pump, I try to keep mine over 1/2 just in case....
Running low on fuel causes the system to pick up more crud and water from the bottom of the tank which will shorten the life of a fuel pump, clog filters, and foul injectors. It's best to keep more gas in the tank. You really don't save much money because you're not actually using more gas (except that the car weighs a measly 7 lbs per gallon more, but that hardly counts)
