Hi Scotty! I love your Youtube channel! I have a 1998 Geo Tracker 1.6 liter four cylinder, five speed, four wheel drive. The vehicle has over 225,000 on the odometer, but the engine has been changed. The "new" engine has a little over 110,000 miles. We got it not long ago. It's a great running little vehicle, but has a really weird problem. When the gas tank is full it runs perfect, but when the gas gauge needle reaches a needles width under a half of a tank, the vehicle starts to buck and kick. It's acting like it is running out of gas, but it doesn't shut off. You can drive it slowly to a gas station nearby. As soon as you fill it up, it runs perfect again. It has done this to us twice, and fortunately there were gas stations close. When it does this, it throws codes. The first time it threw a catalytic converter code and an evaporative code. We had the catalytic converter replaced with a new one. They told us it had a converter on it designed for an earlier model. After putting on the new converter, they cleared the codes and it has been fine. We thought we had it fixed until the gas gauge reached the exact same spot, and the problem repeated itself. We haven't checked the codes this time yet, but we are suspecting something inside the gas tank is wrong. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide! Really hope you are enjoying Tennessee and your new Mazda Miata!
I would be suspicious of a faulty fuel level sensor in the tank. How much fuel do you put in when you fill it?
@66-fairlane-gt
Thank you for your reply. I guess that's a possibility. I couldn't find any of my gas receipts, but the first time it happened we had driven it from middle NC almost all the way up to Roanoke, VA. It happened on the way back, and after that we bought gas several times to keep it full. The next place we took it was up in the Blue Ridge mountains, almost into Tennessee without any issues, as long as we kept it near full. The second time it happened we were local, and I ran the gauge down to see if it would do it again. When I put gas in, it didn't seem like the tank was empty. I think it only took like five gallons. I would think it would have at least a ten gallon tank. I checked the fuel mileage once and it was getting 33mpg on the interstate, which is typical for these Trackers. Since it had a catalytic converter from an older model, I'm wondering if it has a gas tank and sending unit from an older model also, causing the gauge to not be calibrated correctly. From my Google searches, the tanks are different in the 96-98 models from the models 95 and back. I guess dropping the tank and pulling out the sending unit is the next step.