fuel starvation

[escortkid]

anyone have any fixs for the righthand turn fuel starvation problem. anytime im under the 3/4 mark on my gauge and turn hard right i lose fuel. almost cause me to end up in a field about 20 minutes ago. wanna know how to fix.

[sfd]

ive seen a fix in the bg engine section here but couldn't tell you how to search it...may wanna repost/move this there.

[mannydingo]

I know the exact fix you're talking about. It came from a Ford Escort forum instead of a Mazda forum. I did it when I owned my 91 Escort. It involves taking out the fuel pump. You replace a Ford proprietary hose that comes on the fuel pump and just put a standard auto parts store fuel hose in its place. It worked but not perfectly. The guy put pictures on how to do it and everything. However, it did not work 100%. It fixed it about 80% so that was good. To me, that meant that, at the price of a replacement fuel pump, it isn't worth the effort. Instead, call every auto parts store in your area out of the phone book. Ask them the price for a fuel pump for your car and buy the cheapest one. Not to mention, by buying a new or rebuilt one, you get a new strainer(filter)with it. If it doesn't come with it, BUY IT ALSO! Don't be cheap and cause yourself more problems later. The strainer is NOT yout regular fuel filter. It's attached to the fuel pump, itself. I was not the only one that learned this fix that said that the fix was not a perfect fix. Only do this mod if you are 100% broke. If you're going to do it, I will go into more detail. Remember, it was an 80% fix for me but can end up being 60% for you. Ofcourse, any improvement is better than none.

[mannydingo]

Sorry I'm double-posting but here's the link to the website and thread I was talking about on my post above. You will notice I use my same username(mannydingo) there also. It's hard to see but there are 4 pages to that thread:

http://www.feoa.net/modules.php?name...2272&highlight=

[rusty]

I wish erdt was still up there used to be a 100% fix on that site. From personally experience I have seen fuel pumps cause this problem, another issue I have seen is the strainer getting caught in the basket and pinching off during cornering.
The first thing I would do is just go get a strainer and fuel filter. Replace both. When reinstalling the fuel pump make sure the strainer sits back in properly. Either way you need to replace both. This could save you from replacing the pump. Chances are that you will need to replace the pump as well though.

[mannydingo]

Chances are that you will need to replace the pump as well though.

Yes, the reason I recommend not just changing the strainer and just replacing the entire fuel pump is that if it had been just the strainer, in my case, then changing that hose would not have made an 80% improvement. There is a small chance that changing the strainer might do the trick, however, there's nothing worse than finishing any job and finding you have to go back in there and do more. By the way, when doing this, it's best to get a new rubber gasket/sealring for the metal ring that holds up the pump tightly to the car's metal body. The good thing about these cars is that to get to the fuel pump, all you have to do is take off the rear seat cushion and there it is. The reason I say to get that thin rubber ring seal is that I left the seat off and drove around to make sure it wasn't leaking gas after I put it all back together and, sure enough, it was leaking. Oh, yeah, I also remember ERDT. It was another Ford website. As long as most of the ERDT guys went over to FEOA.NET then they can probably, re-answer those questions. FEOA is good too.

[rusty]

Yeah so much easier to change the fuel pump on compacts than trucks and suv's. We can change them out in 30 minutes and does not require draining or dropping the fuel tank.

[Grav1ty]

My LX E and my Protege were both doing that.... In my instance it was the strainer/pickup that was causing the starvation. The strainer slides onto the fuel pump base. There is a rubber seal that slides over the fuel pump and the strainer bottoms out on it. Over time the strainer/ pickup bounces off the bottom of the tank and tilts the strainer a little. That opens up a gap between the strainer / rubber seal and fuel pump base. I could hardley see the gap but under 1/2 a tank it would suck air there and cut out. I replaced the pickup and screen for about $10 from autozone, and got a rubber ring seal for the top of the fuel pump assy to the tank and that was a dollar something for packet of 3 from Ford. I probley could have gotten away from pushing the strainer on tighter, bu I had already purchased a replacment strainer. The strainer is only held on with a slide keeper, I had to cut the old one off and then just slide the new one back on.


This is a pic from fixitmatman on feoa.



You will see the rubber seal at the left side, where the white strainer contacts.

[mannydingo]

Yeah, that picture is from the link I put above. That's good extra info about replacing just the strainer, if he's just going to try that.

[escortkid]

ill do everything. in a few weeks once i start getting my income up. new pump. strainer ect.

[escortkid]

thanks for the help yall btw.