My 88 XT (MPFI, NA, MT, 4WD, fun) is having fuel starvation problems below 1/4 full (call it 3 gallons and below) and mild cornering and uphill acceleration.
For several years I had noticed that it got a little cranky going through a 35mph sweeping right hand curve near me, but having driven an SPFI without the PCV mod, I never really "noticed". Since an engine change this summer (to deal with a decrepit rod bearing), I have been driving it more and longer. After a couple months of trying to track down a sudden drop in power, particularly on an uphill freeway onramp after a left-hand turn to enter, I finally figured out that:
1) my fuel gauge was registering a little "differently" (optimistic: E meant E)
2) the low-fuel light was inoperative
and, most important here,
3) my pump sucked air during minor maneuvering below about 3 gallons of fuel.
(The onramp was annoying, as it was part of my commute and it took upwards of 2-3 minutes to recover enough to crawl up the incline and get to traffic speed.)
One of the first things I did was swap in a known-usable fuel pump. No change.
OK, I hear someone saying, "Duh! Keep more fuel in your tank." Sound advice, tough to follow for domestic reasons.
I have not noticed this behavior in any other of our MPFI/SPFI EA82's (got a "couple"), all of which should have a similarly baffled tank to my XT.
Is this "normal" behavior? Is the XT tank different in a bad way? Is it possible that the baffle(s) has(have) come adrift? Or am I just nuts?
Edited by NorthWet, 15 February 2013 - 06:01 PM.
