Car Pinking?

infernalaffairs

Hi, I've got a Mark 1 Seat Leon 1.6s 16v, recently when the fuel is down to almost the reserve tank the car on occasion stutters and feels like it's braking when I'm cruising along, sometimes it kicks back into life as normal after a few seconds while at other times it stalls. When I start the car back up everything appears normal.

I've recently had the fuel pump replaced as well as the coil packs due to failure. When the car is filled up I don't get this problem.

Any idea what it could be and why it only happens when I'm heading towards the reserve tank.

Thanks

(Trying to save a bit of money as I've spent close to £600 in the last couple of months with various things going wrong)

forgotmyname

Reserve tank? You mean below the red section? If it only happens when you run it that low
surely dont let it get that low next time? Some cars detect the low fuel level and the engine management
cause the car to hiccup/misfire as a final warning to refuel.

Sounds like your running it to almost empty or the gauge is not accurate.

infernalaffairs

Never used to happen until fuel pump was replaced. Today it happened before the reserve light came on. Previously it happened shortly after the light came on so I should have 30 miles of fuel left. Would replacing the fuel pump cause the gauge to become inaccurate

roswell

Easy - keep it fueled up .. that what probably caused your fel pump failure in the first place.

Imagen the cost savings manufacurers could make with replacing the fuel gauge with a light instead.

cyclonebri1

I'd go along with what Roswell said, the pump could have been "cavitating" ie pumping a vacuum due to lack of fuel.

There is obviously now a partial blockage even if there wasn't before. Several ideas;

Was the fuel filter changed when the pump was? If not it needs changing.

Changing the pump could also have allowed debris or disturbed some gunge that is now causing a partial blockage, the only reason you get away with it with a full tank is the extra pressure from a full tank.

It could be a rusted fuel tank asuming it's a steel one, I'm not sure for your car.


There is one quite despate hope if al else fails and that is to remove the pipe at the rear of the fuel pump, connect an airline to the pipe, and blow the line clear back to the tank. If you do have to try this, do it with a low tank and ensure you remove the filler cap or you could rupture the tank.
The last item is a last resort, take care if you try it.
:eek::eek: