2003 Ford Taurus out of gas?

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

My 2003 Taurus wagon stalled and ran out of gas even though the gauge read 1/4 full. Called AAA they came and put a can of gas (less than 2 gal.) in and the car started. I went to the nearest gas station a block away and filled the tank. It took only 10 gal. That means that there was 3 or 4 gal. in the tank when it stalled. What gives?

2

Were you on a hill?

3

No. In a shopping center …very flat

4

The car stalled, but I imagine you’re only assuming that it ran out of gas. It could be a coincidence that it restarted after the service person added gas. It is also possible that you are having a fuel problem - like a failing fuel pump. This could also be coincidental in terms of the gas level/adding gas. Or it could be related - like the pump is getting too hot and then shutting down. So then after sitting a while & having cold gas dumped on it, it came back to life briefly. It that’s true you’ll find out before long because this kind of thing will happen again.

5

You have no grounds to state your car’s behavior was due to running out of gas. More likely it was an electrical glitch of some sort, one that righted itself after the hour’s wait for the AAA truck.

It may happen again. If your fuel tank is more than half full you can eliminate the ‘running out’ theory. If there is another such occurrence, wait an hour to see if your car will restart. Then limp into the shop. Or arrange a tow.

These problems can be very difficult to track down. One strong possibility is a failing fuel pump and another is the ignition coil, but it could be 'most anything.

6

You might want to have the fuel pump pressure tested.

Fuel pumps can get weak where the level of gas in the tank can assist a weak fuel pump. This level of gas in the tank is called head pressure. So the more full the tank is the higher the head pressure. As the level of gas in the tank drops the head pressure drops to a point where it no longer assists the weak fuel pump and the engine stalls.

Tester

7

I’m with Tester on this one. I too am familiar with the condition he describes. You may want to have your fuel pump tested.