Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Clogged Fuel Line?????

Hey Gang,

I've got a 2000 V6. Recently I have been having issues with getting fuel to the engine a times. I thought I had a bad run of gas, but I'm not so sure now; Here's what's happening:

When the tank gets below 1/4 the car "shudders" and almost stalls during acceleration or anytime I give it some extra gas. It actually stalled on me while going up a hill last week. The interesting part is that it only does this when the engine is warm and has been running a while. I have not experienced this problem with a cold engine. When it stalled on me, I tried to restart without any luck, it didn't seem to be getting any fuel. After I let it "rest" for about 10 minutes, I got it started and made it to a gas station. I'm about to get that tank down to 1/4, so we'll see if it does it again. This has happened for about 3 tanks of gas now.
Oh, and the fuel filter only has about 6,000 miles on it...
Any ideas?

Thanks!

That sounds like a fuel pump issue, rather common with contours...

Do a search on 'fuel pump' to find more info - you'll find a lot.

If you're lucky it's only the small strainer on the pump pickup, if not then you'll have to replace the pump.


Tiv

Pump/filter sock inlet for the pump. The pump may be okay, but the upper lower pickup may be clogged.

YAY! I get to pimp my dirty sock and screen pics again!!!



My thread about the sending unit replacement here .

I'm going to chat with my mechanic tomorrow about it. I don't trust myself with the fuel delivery system outside of the fuel filter. He said if this is the problem, it's not exactly inexpensive to repair. So, we will see what happens! I apprecaite the info!

Just out of curiosity, what grade of gas do you guys run? I've been running 87 in mine with a fuel additive my business sells. Friend said if I had been using 93 I wouldn't have had this problem...

Also, is there any fuel filter that ya'll recomend for the 2.5L V6? I use just the basic one from Auto Zone right now.

I had the same problem with mine. Just before the low fuel light would come on the car would surge like the torque converter was going bad. Replaced the fuel filter and no more problem...at least for now. Filter was dirty...bad.

Replaced fuel pump/sock. Clogged terribly and the pump was beginning to fail. Mechanic said he's seeing a lot of vehicles come in with bad gas recently. Usually either a dark brown or black color comes out of the fuel system.

My 2000 V6 is running much better under full fuel pressure. Looking at running some higher grade fuels in it to see if that helps keep the system cleaner.

Just realized I never posted this. I replaced my fuel pump (figured I might as well do that with the sock) only to find out it was a fuel additive (Freedom Fuel Add.) I was using causing the entire problem. Granted cleaning/replacing all that certainly didn't hurt. Mainly the additive just didn't absorb well into the fuel and when my tank got below 1/2, it would cause the car to miss and lose power. I experimented with this after the replacement and determined for sure this was the problem.

MORAL OF THE STORY: WATCH WHAT YOU PUT IN YOUR TANK!!!!!