MyronGaines

1985 Corvette - Automatic - 96.8k miles.

I've owned this car for about 2 months and I know the previous owner (whom I bought the car from) who's owned it for nearly a decade and has never had this issue.

In the first month I owned the car, I only had one instance of the car stalling out on me. I was coming to a stop and once I got down to about ~5-10MPH it stalled out. Engine shut off, power steering was gone, however dash lights were still on, almost as if I ran out of gas. I turned the ignition off, put the car in park and it started up again - with the gas meter showing "RESERVE" even though I had half a tank of gas. Drove it a couple miles to work and did not have an issue.

Fast forward to yesterday, about three weeks after the incident above, and the same thing happened only 4-5 times within a 5 minute time span. Same type of stall, engine off, power steering loss etc. Each time the car would start back up immediately and run for another minute before stalling out. Pulled into a parking lot for over an hour, then drove home no stalling occurred.

I changed the fuel pump relay (pic attached with pink X) a couple days ago. When I was installing this I unplugged the electronics to the motor to the left (blue circle) which I believe it the windshield wiper motor? Correct me if I'm wrong. Also, in the picture, the yellow circle item looks like a cable that runs to the throttle body which is very loosely held on by some black putty, I cannot figure out what this wire is?

Ever since I owned the car, when starting the ignition cold, it takes about 3-4 seconds to turn over. I was told this would be re-mediated by installing a new fuel pump relay, which i have done, but don't know if this is doing more damage at this point.

Any suggestion on what this could be - bad fuel pump/filter? I have a new one, I just need some help installing. I may re-install the old pump relay as well.

Thanks.

softwarejanitor

Sounds like fuel pump or filter or the pump sock. You may just want to replace the whole fuel pump and gauge sender unit all at once to make sure you have it all and you don't have to take it all back apart. It is a couple hundred extra bucks to do the whole thing, but it may save some labor $$$ or your time if you are doing it yourself.

antfarmer2

Just take off the fuel door then the rubber apron then the hoses a few bolts and lift it out. The easyest pump you will ever do before you hook the hoses up change the fuel filter.

antfarmer2

Might just be the fuel filter if your under a 1/4 tank you can change it without takeing the hose off.

PatternDayTrader

My car did almost the exact same thing except mine would stall around corners as well. The problem ended up being water in my gas tank which would be sucked up by the pump intermittently depending on how I stopped or turned. There is a water drain hole right below the gas cap and mine was plugged, so when it would rain, the rubber apron would literally fill up with water and go right into the tank through the vented gas cap. I should also mention my car is a 95 but I am sure yours is exactly the same.

gerardvg

Fuel pump.

That is the common thing, run the tank low and if your fuel pump filter is damaged things ruin the pump.

Fuel pump failures start as stalling and quickly degrades till it doesnt work at all.

They quite cheap and are easy to replace, just remove the sender from the tank and replace the fuel pump.

Replace the filter at the same time, under the passenger side of car.

Rod Schneider

And, to answer your other questions, yes, the blue circled connecter is on the windshield wiper motor. The cable with the "loose putty" is the accelerator cable that comes from the pedal.

MyronGaines

Thanks! I will look to changing the fuel pump and filter. Any recommendations on both of these items? I bought a new filter about a week ago, any rec's on the pump?


Mine has been stalling around corners too - quite scary. I did wash the car and it looked like a lot of water was being held in the gas cap department.

I have a full tank of premium gas, could it be water is still in the fuel?

ajp01

Yes. It doesn't matter how full your tank is, the water is heavier than the fuel and will slosh around the bottom of the tank. The fuel and water won't mix, and you'll intermittently get water into the system which is bad on several levels as it can cause corrosion in the system.

Sabre34

OP hasn’t been on the forum since 2015. Hopefully he has his fuel problem sorted by now.