abcxyzzz

I was driving this morning, and after 1 miles of leaving from my house, the car started sputtering while I was driving and the yellow check engine light started blinking. I pulled into the turning lane to get off the main road, and as I turned and pressed the accelerator, the car would barely move, it was sputtering with almost no power.

I got it to the side of the road and had it towed to my house. When I turn on the car it idles really low and fluctuates between 450-600 rpms and sputters and shakes.

Any idea what the problem could be? Tow truck guy said it might be fuel pump or spark plugs, or maybe the OBDII sensor?

Please help...thanks.

4Driver4

No such thing as the OBDII sensor, so you can rule that out. You might have a coil pack issue. Start by pulling codes and posting them.

tessfa

had a similar problem, got a4 b5 95,starting losing power, felt really sluggish limped it home, got it up on ramps turns out the caterletic converter internal were dislodged an were bouncinig about resticting airflow, creatin back pressure, i just took it of an knocked it out, now runs a dream, sounds meater, will replace wen mot comes round....

abcxyzzz

So my friend and an OBD II scanner and here's what it said

P0300 Random / Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0301 Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected
P0304 Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected
P0305 Cylinder 5 Misfire Detected
P0306 Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected

More info on the problem, I had 1/8 of a tank of gas left when it happened, and my fuel filter has been humming for 8 months when the fuel is below 1/4 (I even changed a new fuel filter 3 months ago, so it's probably the fuel pump that's humming).

After car was towed home, it sat for 4 or 5 hours before my friend came over with his OBD II scanner, it started fine this time but showed the codes above. My friend though there might be some debris kicking up in the fuel tank since it was low and suggested I fill it up and see what happens. We went to fill it up and then re-ran the codes. NO ERROR Codes. Is that weird?

He suggested I changed the spark plugs & spark wires. The last time the plugs were done were at 75000 miles (car has 117k miles now), don't think the wires have been changed.

Any insight from anyone based on the above? What could be the problem and hence the fix, I don't want it unexpectedly happening again, things like that shouldn't happen just because you're low on fuel...

4Driver4

I call BS on the "debris" theory. Car needs a fuel pump.

abcxyzzz

Based on the explanation I wrote and the codes, could you elaborate on your fuel pump recommendation and how you come to that conclusion? Thanks...

4Driver4

I'm not recommending a fuel pump, just guessing that the fuel pump is the issue. Low on fuel when the problem happened, when away after car cooled down, better with a full tank. Sounds like a fuel pump problem to me...

abcxyzzz

Would that cause the misfires in the cylinders?

I was reading some other messages with people that had the same sputtering issues, and they were saying that their coil packs were bad.

GTA_Driver

Your first clue is the humming of the fuel pump. a normal fuel pump does not hum. And it's not the fuel filter.

There is junk at the bottom of the tank, but shouldn't be a problem unless you've been filling up from old stations with old tanks and taking the bottom of the tank leftovers.

In any case, the fuel pump needs fuel to cool, running the tank low consistently isn't the best for cars in general.

When the pump starts failing, it will interrupt the flow of fuel which can cause your misfires.

abcxyzzz

Thanks for the reply. I called a shop to get a quote on the fuel pump replacement. I explained the problem to him and he said that the fuel pump might not necessarily be bad and it sounds like I was running out of gas causing the misfiring. He mentioned that the sensor that tells the fuel level might be bad which could be why it was still showing 1/8 tank of gas when in fact it was almost empty.

That's plausible I suppose, but now that i think of it, after the car sat for 4 hours, it was idling fine (although the check engine light was still on) and when I fill the tank when the guage is at 1/8, it only fills about 13 gallons, i think the car can take 16. So I don't think he's right...