Expert: Vern Bullock - 7/23/2008

Question
QUESTION: I went up the street tonight to put some gas (midgrade) in my Ford Fairlane, filled up, got a little ways down the street and it died on me. The starter would turn over, but it would stay started. Even dribbling some gas in the carb would only yield a false start...would stutter and die. I just had my fuel pump rebuilt and a new fuel filter installed. I am confused as to what to do here. Could it be that filling it up brought some crud up from my ancient gas tank and I have something stuck in the lines? Any ideas for a short term fix just to get it home from the three blocks away where it stranded me would be much appreciated.

ANSWER: Hi Greg:
I am going to assume that she ran fine before the fill-up. Since you have a rebuilt fuel pump and a new filter on her, there are two possible causes for this sudden fuel system problem...

1. Yes, you may have some trash in the gas tank that has clogged the fuel filter not the fuel line. If the gas tank has never been cleaned, it maybe time to do so.

2. The gas station you used to fill up, may have just had fuel delivered to the station. If that was the case, then the trash most likely came from the station. Never buy gas from a station that is taking on fuel. Wait a few days for that station tank trash to settle to the bottom.

Which brings me to a 3rd option to determine your problem. If you truly have trash in the fuel system, it should be settled to the bottom by now, and you should be able to start her and she should run OK.

So, try to start her tonight and see if she idles OK and drives OK. Don't hit any bumps or pot holes to stir up trash in the fuel system.

If this is the case, the just change the fuel filter again. If that solves the problem, then the question is... did the trash come from your tank or the station's tank?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: First off, thank you for the excellent reply. I had some trouble a couple of years back with crud in the line, and have had the fuel pump rebuilt twice because of it. The gas tank issue is definitely something I need to get to. However, it still, 14 hours later, just wont start -- only cranks -- and that has never happened before in 13 years. She was running tip-top fine before the fill-up last night. So now I wonder if this could also be a vapor lock issue? I don't know a lot about vapor lock, but the symptoms seem to be there -- all except that it seems it would have settled down enough by now to be able to start up again.

Answer
Hi Greg:
Yes, there is an outside chance it could be vapor lock, but when you said you only drove it up the street to get gas, that pretty much ruled out vapor lock, because the car didn't get hot enough, right?

vapor lock is caused by engine overheating, causing the fuel line, fuel pump and carburetor to heat up and vaporized the fuel inside and creates a vacuum that sucks all the air out of the fuel line. Without air, the fuel won't flow.

If you believe this is the problem, then remove the fuel lines from the pump, filter and carb briefly to allow air to flow through the line and start fuel to flowing again.

Also, keep in mind, if the fuel filter is really badly clogged, then settling won't help. It just have to be cleaned out (if you have a removable filter, which I think you do).