I’m driving a 90 dodge dakota 4 cylinder that has started to die after first starting it. sometimes it dies while its warming up or will just stop running after a couple of blocks from home. It usually starts right back up and i have no problems until it sits overnight. I’m thinking it is the fuel filter. This started after I filled the gas tank after letting it almost run out of gas. Also, where is the fuel filter located?
If it were a fuel filter problem, the engine would lose power at higher road speeds because of the lack of fuel.
Because you state that you almost ran out of gas, you might want to have the fuel pressure tested. Running out of gas with an electric fuel pump in the gas tank is excellent way to damage the fuel pump.
Tester
Having only driven it around town, I’ll need to take it for a spin down the road before eliminating the fuel filter I guess. So you mean to tell me that by running the tank on low, (the light was on for MAYBE ten miles) I can damage the electric fuel pump? Is it costly to replace?
A twenty year old fuel pump, and almost running out of gas? Yup! That’ll do it!
Tester
The fuel filter is under the hood: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/repairinfo/componentlocations/componentLocationMain.jsp?fromSearchPage=true&categoryNValue=4294962899&categoryName=Fuel+Filter It is a fuel/ water separator. You drain the water from the bottom of the fuel filter.
It’s obvious that you don’t have a repair manual. Why not? The older a vehicle get, the more maintenance it needs.
The intake tract, throttle body and idle air control could use a cleaning with throttle body cleaner. Yes, cleaning those could help your problem.
Thank you so much for responding, I just bought the pickup last fall from an old geezer mechanic who could no longer drive it due to bad knees and can’t use the clutch. He kept his “baby” in top shape. I tried to buy a book along with the fuel filter but they don’t have one in stock right now. It’s on order. Again, thanks for your help, I’ll go to that link.