Fuel Starvation? Gen 7

April 16, 2013

Hello peeps,

Got myself a 2000 plate Gen 7 celica a couple of months ago now, it has just over 90k and has 14 stamps in service book.

I got back from a weekend in the Lake district yesterday. Set off on Friday, car full of camping stuff etc. & fairly loaded up. On the journey up the car felt a little sluggish but I put it down to carrying all the camping stuff etc. Got to camp site unloaded and set off for a ride over the Wrynose and Hardknott pass and the car felt fine until In the middle of nowhere the car just ground to a halt, no warning lights, no rise in temperature, just lost some power and ground to a halt. I flipped the bonnet, no funny smells, no leaks, didn't seem hot, just appeared 'normal'. Tried to start the car, it turned strongly but would not fire up, seemed like it was out of fuel tho the tank was around 3/4 full. Sat for half an hour scratching my head and trying to work out my next move, no phone signal, middle of nowhere... decided to give it another try and after 20 or so seconds of slowly firing it started and ran fine for around another 2 or 3 miles at which point it ground to a halt again, this time in a lovely village called Torver, had a pint of a lovely light summer ale in a 14th century watering hole, got some numbers for recovery, local mender etc. gave the car an hour or so rest and decided to try the car again. Car started fine and drove strongly the 20 or so miles back to the campsite.

Saturday, topped oil up a little (it wasn't low but had room for 4 or 500 ml) Water in expansion tank was a little bit under the bottom mark so topped it up. Drove 50 to 80 miles on Saturday and the car performed well, did some mountain driving etc. and it didn't miss a beat.

Sunday, packed car up and set off back home, traveled a little over 100 miles without problem when it ground to a halt again, left it parked for 1/2 hr or so and drove the rest of way home without problem.

Things to mention over my ownership of the car;

Had coil packs, new plugs, recent oil and filter change after I went through a puddle and it threw up the check engine light. (light turned off after coil packs etc and not returned)

Also had fuel filler neck/pipe thingy replaced as it was spilling fuel on the forecourt when re-fueling. after this pipe was replaced the car became and has remained a pain to fill up, pump cutting out every 10 - 20p worth of fuel, had it back 3 times to the garage to correct the filling issue but they haven't managed to put it right.

So, I'm wondering if the fault could be as a result of some kind of fuel starvation, perhaps connected to the fuel filler neck replacement perhaps.

I would assume that if the car 'ran out of petrol it wouldn't throw up a warning light?' if this is so, could my problem be fuel starvation? (plenty of fuel in tank on both above breakdowns) i'd also assume that if it was a temp problem or other it probably would throw up a warning light?

Any ideas, thought these were meant to be reliable, but i've spent hundreds so far....

Cheers,

Ant.

April 19, 2013

Best guess here is something in the new filler neck assembly is allowing a vacuum to develop, preventing the fuel pump from pumping fuel to the engine........mimicking the effect of the tank being empty.

Study the vacuum system of the car and compare it to what your garage have done................