LastKnight

After adding a fuel injector cleaner to a tank of gas, my car, a 96 LT1 T/A, hesitated driving up a large hill on the highway. The SES light flashed for a moment too.

Checked the vacuum lines, fuel lines. Gauge seems like it takes forever to respond. Should I buy a new pump? If so, and I go with the popular aftermarket fuel pump, how can I also refurbish the fuel level sender? Another aftermarket part, a sender? Pros?

Thank you for your help.

Paul Bell

iTrader: (9)

Did it run poorly before you added the cleaner?

I believe these cleaners/additives to be a waste of money. It would be better to replace the fuel filter instead. Also, using the cheapest no-name brand of gas is generally a no-no.

Wait until you've burned through a tank of gas to get it all out. Fill 'er up and see if the problem goes away. You shouldn't have damaged anything doing this.

LastKnight

Actually I believe it did hesitate, or bog down, once or twice before, but generally my paranoia over keeping the car in great running condition alerts me to things early on, sometimes without cause.

There was not a noticeable problem with the fuel pump, is the short answer, but the hesitation did happen once before--but never with a flashing SES light. Same healthy whirring when I start to run, same healthy die down of the fuel pump shutting down as I've grown so used to.

Junky additives, huh? Sounds like an excellent answer to me. Darn it. And I so wanted that 255 lph fuel pump and the variable regulator.

Thanks.

NC01TA

Make sure you don't have any water in your tank. Condensation is a real problem in winter with the extreme cold/hot fluctuations, plus this horrible ethanol gas attracts water as well. I would not blame an additive for your problem. If anything you need to add a product that removes water from your tank, like HEET. I use it once every 3 months after my T/A 'bogged down' with water in the lines. The SES light came on too, just like yours. The problem cleared up after driving for about 25-30 miles and never came back again.

LastKnight

Okay. Went to AutoZone and bought some Heet, and added it to the gas tanks. I relieved the fuel pressure the way Chilton's told me to via the Schrader Valve and the gas cap, and changed the fuel filter.

The car starts stronger than before, and seems to have some restored power. I didn't notice any real hesitation, but.. I guess I'm just a tad paranoid. I have to take the same hill that caused all the trouble on the highway tomorrow night. We will see.

Thanks for the "Heet" suggestion. Excellent.