speaking of Camaros etc...

[Anonymous]

I need help with a question regarding a 98 Firebird we bought our daughter. It only has 83,000 miles on it and we have not had it very long. Every time it gets down to about 1/4 tank of gas it will start acting up. Sometimes it wont start....acts like it is not getting enough gas. It will try to turn over but then won't start. If you let it sit for a while then it will start. I took it to mechanic to have hooked up to machine on day we were having problems and then it started behaving. They kept it over night and could not find anything wrong with it. So I got wise and started not letting it get below 1/2 tank gas and so far it has been ok. Do you think it's the fuel pump starting to go out or do you think maybe the gas gauge is not reading right? We are at a loss...don't want to spend $800 on fuel pump if I don't have to but also want my daughter to have a reliable car when she starts driving on her own to school. The mechanic just tells us he does not know what is up with it.

[MidnightVoice]

Well, can you check the fuel gauge by filling it up and see how much it takes?

[Anonymous]

Well I will have to keep track next time I fill it....last time it cost me $47.00 to fill it from 1/4 tank. Someone told me those kind of cars have fuel pumps that sit low and they need a lot of fuel surrounding them to work right. I don't know how true that is.

[Junejer]

I am no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but as I was reading your OP, all I could think of was fuel pump.

[haulingthescoreup]

How about lots of crap, er residue, in the gas tank, and as soon as the level gets low enough, it starts clogging the fuel line? Then once it sits for a while, the residue settles out, and the clear fuel can run through the line.

There's supposed to be some way that you can flush out a fuel tank, although if it involves sucking on a siphon line, you can leave me out. Also the trauma these days of dumping a quarter tank of gas!