Intermittent fuel starvation problem

rev_henry

Towards the end of a 2 hour drive this afternoon my car started getting all jerky; the fuel supply kept cutting out for a few seconds at a time. It has done this occasionally before, but seemed to be rectified by filling the tank up, but this time the tank was well over half full.

By the time I got to the town I was going to it was pretty much undriveable and dangerous; it was driving as though I was a learner with no clutch control, and just as I pulled in to stop the tyres even skidded with the sudden gain and loss in power. Called the breakdown out and the guy drove it for about 2 miles and it wouldn't do it of course. I think in the half hour it took him to get to me it had cooled down. He put some tape around the wires to the spark plugs, saying they often go a bit dodgy, but Hyundai fuel systems do not break as a rule; and he basically asked me if it was firing on 3, which it wasn't, the accelerator just wasn't doing anything every so often.

My gf was in the passenger seat on this short test drive and confirmed that it did not do it; I think they both think it was my driving!

So after this episode we got the final half hour home fine, it just doing it about twice briefly.

I've got to drive another 200 miles on Wednesday - what's wrong with it?

I've thought maybe the fuel filter is blocked and there's some dirty fuel knocking around...?

I'm not doing very well this week - first my bike now this.

Tucker

Did you get the engine light coming on?

It sounds like it should have triggered a fault code which needs diagnosing. Could be faulty fuel pump or wiring issue, but without diagnosis there's far more guess work.

Is it under warranty?

worried_jim

Change the fuel filter,will cost about a tenner from Halfrauds. Good luck.

rev_henry

Tucker wrote: »

Did you get the engine light coming on?

It sounds like it should have triggered a fault code which needs diagnosing. Could be faulty fuel pump or wiring issue, but without diagnosis there's far more guess work.

Is it under warranty?

No, no lights coming on. Oh no, its 12 years old!

rev_henry

worried_jim wrote: »

Change the fuel filter,will cost about a tenner from Halfrauds. Good luck.

That was what I was thinking... If there is some dirty fuel won't it just clog it up again?

Gloomendoom

rev_henry wrote: »

That was what I was thinking... If there is some dirty fuel won't it just clog it up again?

If the fuel filter was clogged one of the most obvious symptoms is hesitation and/or lack of power when pushing the engine hard. Overtaking or steep hills etc.

I'd also check that there are no loose or perished hoses that are letting fuel out or air in.

It could also be a faulty ignition component. They have a tendency to work when cool but degrade as they get hot.

Strider590

Engine stumble has many many causes, unfortunately the only way to go is start replacing bits (most obvious first).

Hammyman

Don't forget that there is also a strainer on the fuel pickup pipe in the tank as well.

How well is the car serviced?

rev_henry

Hammyman wrote: »

Don't forget that there is also a strainer on the fuel pickup pipe in the tank as well.

How well is the car serviced?

It was fully serviced when I bought it about 15 months ago and since then has had an oil change. So not that well... I think I'll try and change the fuel filter this afternoon. Trouble is I probably won't be able to tell if its worked till I've been sat on the motorway for an hour or so...

harveybobbles

It could be the float arm inside the tank that has bent and is giving a wrong reading on the guage on the dash. We had this with an Omega years ago! IT ran lumpy when it got under a 1/4 of a tank. Took hundreds of miles to find this fault out!

ukmike

Could be the filler cap vent hole blocked,next time it does it try undoing the cap & seeing if air rushes in the tank.