OK, need some help here. Anytime I park my car in a parking space facing down a hill, when I start the car to back out it keeps sputtering and shutting off. I will start back, but it only runs for a couple seconds and sputters and cuts off. It only does this if the front end is facing down a hill. I'm assuming this is my fuel pump not picking up fuel b/c maybe it'* in the back of the tank? Whaddya think, and how hard would this be to replace?

The pickup isn't in the back of the tank. It'* fairly well centered. How steep is the hill, and how much fuel was in your tank?

Sounds more like a clogged fuel strainer on the bottom of the pickup to me.

Try parking the other way and see what happens.

Bronze Bonnie had the same problem and it was the fuel pump.

A pump is a pump. If it were failing, it would do it all the time as long as it was immersed in fuel. The reason it fixed his was that it came with a new strainer sock.

And just because it fixed someone else'* issues doesn't mean the same solution is necessarily the case here. (not being critical of your advice, but just pointing this out so people don't dive into a 'shotgun' approach too quickly). We need to ask/answer a few questions before we get to the part-changing stuff.

Broken baffles in the tank can make the problem worse as well.

I agree with not shotgunning parts. Each problem can have different outcomes.

My first thoughts were the baffling and poor qualities of the pickup on a 92 tank. Being a 93, your'* might be an early production.

Although... reading into this further, I disagree with WillWren on the location of the pump pickup. My disagreement isn't without a caveat though. I have done tanks on a 93 SSEi, 94 SE and 97 SSEi. The 93 SE could be different on it'* location, however in all others Ihave seen, the pickup is more rear mounted than any other position.

Add some fuel and test it. Does the car still exhibit the same symptoms with another gallon or two in the tank, 3-5 more gallons?

That will be your best starting point, Testing and looking for consistency.

When I said it wasn't at the back of the tank, I meant the BACK. The pickup is roughly 'rear centered'. Far enough forward it would take a VERY empty tank to do this.

just pointing out possibilities, not necessarily this person'* problem.

The hill is not very steep, but steep enough.


There it is in the parking place, not sure if that one helps or not.

It usually starts doing it when it gets down to about 1/4 of a tank + -.

BTW, Mike, if I back in it doesn't act up. smart @ss

How about when you're braking with 1/4 tank or less? Does it stumble or die? As mentioned before, a clogged sock and broken baffle can cause this to happen. Both of these items are fairly common issues.