2000 Mazda MPV fuel delivery problems

When my wife’s minivan get to about 1/4 tank of gas, it dies when we go around corners because of a lack of fuel. When it gets low enough on fuel to cause the warning light to come on, it isn’t getting enough fuel even when traveling straight, and so loses power. We’ve replaced the fuel pump, had the fuel filter (the “sock”) that is in the tank replaced and cleaned 3 times, and it still behaves this way. The fuel filter keeps getting clogged with very fine particles. Right before this happened, we were driving the car quite a bit (from Tulsa to Houston, from Tulsa to Colorado Springs), and the catalytic converters got very clogged and had to be replaced. I can’t see how they’d be related, but I throw it out there. HELP!

It sounds to me there is something wrong inside the fuel tank. Perhaps a baffle is out of place that is supposed to keep the fuel from moving around as you make a turn. You may need to replace the tank in order to fix this trouble.

I haven’t looked in the tank the 5 or 6 times it was dropped, so I’m not sure if it has baffles. Since it happens even when we’re on a straight drive and there is still about 3 or 4 gallons in the tank (the capacity is 18.5 gallons on a touring package fuel tank), I’m not so sure. But after spending $1,000 trying to fix this, a new fuel tank can’t be that much more.

Another possible thing that may be happening is there is a vacuum in the fuel tank. To see if that may be the cause try opening the gas cap when the tank level gets near the point you start having trouble and see if you hear air get sucked into the tank when you open the cap. Then see if you can drive without having the trouble. If that clears the trouble then the venting system needs to be checked.