Questions and Answers

Buick Century Stalls At ¼ Tank Q. Hi Vincent, I am an old timed mechanic, age 64. I restore old cars, before 1980. I am unfamiliar with the new technologies involved with the newer cars. We bought a 1995 Buick Century the other day. It has the 3.1 liter V-6 with electronic injection and an electronic shift 4 speed automatic transmission with 71,000 miles.

Now the question: While driving at 35 mph the engine died. My wife pulled off the road and restarted and drove away. It ran fine. later that day we drove seven miles to the gas station because the gauge read ¼ of a tank and we didn't know if it was accurate.

While waiting in line at the station, it died again. I tried restarting and it died, restarted again, revved it up and it died. I shut everything off and waited our turn, then started it and moved in to position with no problem. Filled the tank and now it seems to run just fine.

What is happening? I looked in the owner's manual and notice a bit about tightening the gas cap three clicks. Could the pressure in the tank be low because the cap isn't tight thus causing a stall? Is there possibly another problem?

Bob
Stanwood, Washington

A. The gas cap needs to be tight for other reasons. The Check Engine Light can come on if the cap isn't tight because the computer runs a test to make sure there are no fuel fumes escaping from the car.

As for the stalling, if it doesn't do it again until it reads ¼ tank, I would say the fuel level sender is bad. There are many GM cars with this problem. Some can be fixed with a newer software in PCM but most need a new level sensor in the tank.