out of gas?!

[PallarAndersVisa]

Ok so my car has been having fuel problems as of late.

First off, a little general history on the 2000 Ford contour 4cyl SE. Every winter, if I leave the car sitting overnight with less than a quarter tank left, the car wont start in the morning. I have to somehow fill it up, or wait untill its not freezing cold outside. I dont know why it is, but its no big deal, I just learned to not leave so little gas in it in the winter.

This happens every winter.


Now recently, like in the past few months, the car will act like it is running out of gas even if theres still a quarter tank left. I think it all started recently when I moved to a new place, and my parking situation. I park on a slight incline, maybe a 12-15 degree incline.

A few weeks ago I left for work, and my gas gauge said I had a quarter tank in there. It started fine, I drove down the alley and went to pull out on the street then the car started jerking, like it was running out of gas, and then it finally died in an intersection. I went across the street to fill up my 1gallon gas can and put that in the car, and it started after a few cranks.

Now the car will pretty much do this at a quarter tank, regardless if I've been parking on the incline or not. I was driving home from a vacation, a 1.5 hour drive and everything was fine untill I pulled onto my street coming home, the car died RIGHT as I turned onto my road and I had just enough momentum to coast to my house. What luck!

I was wondering if there was a fix for this?

[Big Jim]

I don't know if the 4 cylinder engine used the returnless fuel system. It was introduced part way through the 99 model year and I know it was how the V6 cars were produced.

If you do have the returnless system, you may have a plugged fuel pump inlet screen on the fuel pump module. If it is plugged the cure may be as simple as removing it and throwing it away. Look through the FAQ section for the fuel pump replacement how to. Find the last photo on the page and you can see what I'm talking about. You don't need the screen. It is too fine, and there is a conventional sock filter prior to the pump inside the pump module.

[Tony2005]

This is the Fuel Pump how to Big Jim was referring to.
http://www.contour.org/mods/mods.php...o&displayid=39