I'm not proud of it, but I ran out of gas last week. I just started a new job and was trying to make that tank last. Anyways, after refueling the car runs a bit weird. It hesitates a bit in the lower rpm band and is more likely to stall out of I don't feather the clutch backing out my driveway. I'm assuming I need to change my fuel filters since I probably sucked up some tank rust or something. I already did a tune-up (plugs,oil, etc) recently as I got a few bucks for helping a friend and attended to that first.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I have never run out of gas in my RX7, but in every other car I have ever run dry, and there have been a few, (I'm not proud of it either, but I had the same sort of excuses) I've had to replace the fuel pump within a couple of weeks. I suspect that running out sucks a lot of sediment through the pump and trashes it. On the other hand, maybe a clean fuel filter will do it. When you replace the filter, have a big jar nearby to catch the over flow gas, have a friend nearby and don't do it near an open flame. Good luck.

Iamsisyphus

 

I concur.

If you can't get a new fuel filter right away, try to "backflush" your old fuel filter to try and see if you can get all that crap to fall out...


-Ted

 

From what I have heard, the fuel pump gets the cooling that it needs from the fuel flowing through it, when this fuel stops flowing, but the pump is still running, it overheats and burns up (which is why it must be replaced).

 

before u change the pump put in a new filter asap sounds to me like u sucked up some crap

 

Really? I have run out of gas twice in my 7 (faulty gas gauge) and my pump is still going strong.
I would first recommend that you replace the in-tank fuel filter (fuel sock) as there is a good possibility that it got clogged up with crap from the bottom of the tank. If it still has problems, then you can look at replace the pump.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to try and "backflush" the in-line filter today and might get around to replacing the in tank one as well. I'll post results afterwords.

 

despite your experience, it is known that running a fuel pump dry is very hard on it. your experience just shows that it's a crap shoot, but others' experiences show that you don't want to make that gamble.

satanicmechanic, I may have a used stock '87 TII fuel pump for sale before too long, I have a new 255lph pump I plan on installing. I would probably let it go pretty cheap because of its age and, because my last fuel level sender didn't work, I ran it out of gas once, too (but it seems to be working pretty well a couple months after the incident).

 

what exactly is "ran out" to you? the car sputtered and died and you had to park it on the side of the road and go get gas, or it read empty?

 

My gas gauge doesn't read below half tank. I think I've run out of gas close to a dozen times. I've had a lot of experience with it, obviously, and was able to come up with a sort of "How many miles can my tach get before I need to get gas".

I'm still running strong! I'm going to replacing my fuel filter and pump soon, so I'll see if there's any noticable difference.

 

You can't run the fuel pump dry for more than a few moments. As soon as it starts to suck air, the fuel pressure will suddenly drop, fuel flow will drop correspondingly and the engine will stall. This will cause the fuel pump to be shut off. In that very short sequence of events I can't see the pump running long enough to do it damage.

A clogged pre-filter sounds far more likely. Clean or replace it and see if that fixes the problem before spending money on a replacement pump.

 

It's only ~$20 for a fuel sock / pre-filter. As long as you're in there you might as well replace it. But yeah replace the fuel filter first. It's not that expensive either. And even if it's not the main source of your problem it's probably all crudded up now.

This problem comes up a lot when people run their car dry. You can do a forum search and see if there are any other tips.

 

the same thing happened to me in my 86 non turbo. ran out of gas tryed to make it to a gas station didnt work out so well . refueled it then it started to do the jerking. come to find out that the fuel pump sucked up a lot of junk in the fuel tank. so in short i changed the fuel pump to a walbro 255 and the problem went away . . . im sure you can have the same good out come if you go with a stock pump to im sure. wouldnt hurt to change your fuel filter too if you havent done so already.

being that these cars are damn near 25+ years old maybe its a good time to redo your fuel lines? and inspect your gas tank for internal rust.


best of luck to you ! keep those 7's running guys they are funs cars. . .
/cheers!

 

chevron fuel system cleaner or any of that stuff
run it strong/rich

should help clean alot of that ish out

 

I suppose, but only if you don't try to start the car again. The pump will run while you crank.

And to answer 0verb00st, I ran out of gas, in the actual sense of the phrase. My friend had a gas can so we put a gallon in my tank, then I went to fill at a station.

 

Likely a clogged pickup sock. It would be hard to burn out the pump this way. They are designed for abuse like this.