# Sputtering Vehicle Sat Awhile

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/sputtering-vehicle-sat-awhile/45877>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** wrangler, jeep\
**Created:** [March 10, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/sputtering-vehicle-sat-awhile/45877 "2010-03-10T20:25:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tnglm003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@tnglm003](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tnglm003)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/sputtering-vehicle-sat-awhile/45877/1 "2010-03-10T20:25:29Z")

</div>

Just purchased RHD 2004 Jeep Wrangler, 48,000 miles. Ran fine, until I drove on my mail route. Half way through it started to sputter and die. I would restart, it would go awhile and die, or when I slowed down for an intersection. It sputtered and died on open road on the way back to the office. The Jeep did sit awhile, the seller stated. I just purchased the vehicle. In excellent shape. Changed the oil. Took it for a transmission check, and fluids changed. It was on 1/2 a tank. No system lights or red flag on gauges.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/sputtering-vehicle-sat-awhile/45877/2 "2010-03-10T20:55:13Z")

</div>

Extended sitting spells, even 6 months to a year, can cause the gasoline to go bad at a minimum, become contaminated with moisture, etc. and even cause the fuel pump to fail or become borderline.

I would pull the fuel filter off for a start and dump the contents into a jar for examination. Extended sitting can sometimes cause rust to form in the filter from minute traces of moisture that may be present.