The others are right on track with this, but the down part of the pump/fuel gauge stalk is metal. But it has an angle curve to it, so it sounds as though someone worked on this and did not get it correctly back into position.

Reinstalling the stalk is very tricky, getting it back in at the correct orientation is the tough part. With it correctly positioned the pick up end sits in a bowl that is molded in the bottom of the fuel tank, if it is not correctly seated then because of the curve in the stalk it will be drawing fuel from a higher area in the tank, so what is happening is the pick up tube is not at the bottom of the tank but is incorrectly located about 3/4's of the way up the tank.

This will not be good for the fuel pumps, as they get cooled by the flow of fuel and with out that fuel will overheat and shorten their life span, so this needs to be correct asap. Also it is not a good idea to run around with a gas can in the car trunk if that is currently being done.

Let us know how this shakes out. If the car was serviced for a fuel problem in the past then it should go back to them for the correction.


DanR '94 964 355,000 miles (121,000 on the new engine)
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DanR