Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 17:53:51 -0800 From: Justin VanAbrahams <jvanabranopsamnet> Subject: Re: Fuel problem in '95 900 SE Turbo (manual)
BillyG1993 wrote: > > Hi, > > I have a 1995 900 SE Turbo, manual shift. Absolutely love driving it. The > warranty runs out in two months. I was wondering if anyone experienced the > problem I've been having lately. > > 1. The gas gauge starts off at the half level or lower, even when the tank is > full. Then after 15 minutes it works its way up to the correct level. Bottom > line, I can't rely on it any more, have to rely on the trip odometer. (The > dealer replaced the gas tank and fuel line due to a related problem, and told > me that sometimes the gas tank builds up a vacuum and gets sucked into itself, > i.e., shrinks.) Methinks this is a line of shit. The gas tank should NEVER have vacuum in it... fuel injected cars work on a pressurized closed system, so the fuel tank should always have air in it. After running the car for some time, air inside expands due to heat and gets blown out a one-way relief valve. When the car cools down, the air cools, contracts, and generates vacuum since the relief valve is one way and it can't suck air in. That said, if your mechanic's explanation is right you would be having your symptoms only when the car is low on gas and there is a relatively large amount of air in the tank. Secondly, the gas tank is plastic and very rigid. It shouldn't expand or contract. If it did, that could wear the tank material and eventually result in a rupture. More likely what's going on is that you have a sticky sender unit or that the sender was damaged when some of the fuel lines were replaced. It's not an expensive fix. Since you have warranty left, it might not be a bad idea to take your car to another dealership and have them look at it... fortunately, the warranty you have is not dealer-specific. > 2. In cold humid weather, as I'm driving along the highway, the car suddenly > acts as if the gas flow is being constricted, then goes back to normal again. > This is quite disconcerting in heavy traffic at high speeds, to say the least. > Also, in low gear (2nd or 3rd), when I go into neutral to coast or change > gears, the tach dips below 1,000 rpms and the car sometimes stalls (while in > neutral). This results in loss of power steering, so I have to quickly restart > the car while still moving along the road. Could cause a major accident. > Sometimes the warning bell sounds but the revs don't go below the stall > threshold (miracle). Both of these could be caused by a vacuum leak, and most likely in your turbo bypass valve. I've had the same thing happen in three of my 900Ts over time... Dealer should be able to fix this easily. Just tell 'em your turbo bypass valve is bad and it needs replacing... it's a $40 part and less than an hour's work to install. > 3. Problems 1 and 2 never seem to happen when I take the car to the dealer, > and they had the car thoroughly checked out by their top mechanic. Found no > problem. One thing you might try to develop problem #2 for the dealer is to put the car in 3rd, rest your foot on the brake and accelerate hard - do it in an open area, and don't do it for long for risk of overheating the brakes. This will cause massive amounts of boost to build up and *should* (but might not) cause the bypass valve to malfunction. Might be worth a try. Short of that, ask them to replace the bypass valve and the sender and see what they say. -Justin
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