8 replies to this topic

[racer466]

Recently took my 99 SM for a test day (it's a new car for me).  Car ran great all day until late in the afternoon.  After hard right turns it cuts out sometimes.  Any suggestions on what to look for?  Do these cars have fuel starvation problems, I had a little over quarter tank of gas when this happened.  Any typical electrical issues?  Thanks for any help

 

[Jeff Wasilko]

I'd look at the CAM sensor and harness as it's a known weak spot:

 

https://www.advanced...sor-pigtail-kit

[Dave D.]

Check to see if the battery is loose and moving around.

[tylerbrown]

Personally, I have had/seen fuel starvation problems with fuel pumps, but only ever on left hand turns, not right handers. 

[Michael Novak]

Once in awhile the tank baffles break and can cause problems with lower fuel levels. I would go after other things first though..

[Bench Racer]

Was that the first time you ran the car with fuel level where it was? 

 

Guys, if there were a visual fuel pressure gauge mounted to the cowl/outside windshield would a fuel cutout show a drop in fuel pressure?  I had a gauge in said location because if an issue with fuel pressure I could see while on track.   

[Icedawg]

A partially plugged, damaged or misaligned sock on the fuel pump pickup has been said to cause some pick up problems.

[Ron Alan]

Same symptom...replaced the whole fuel pump assembly...went away and hasn't returned! Check the tank baffles while you have it out just in case. My symptom was below 1/2 tank of fuel and in one very long sustained left hand turn.

[ECOBRAP]

Mine started doing this late 2019 at a quarter tank, after a long fully loaded turn. By the time I hit the exit curbing, the motor would run out of fuel and the car would die for about a second.

 

First check baffles in the tank like Ron said, mine were fine.

 

Only question mark I found is that the fuel return line was pinched and facing away from the sock. I put a new return line on, and secured it to point directly at the sock. So if the fuel is sloshed to one side during a long turn, at least the return line is splashing the sock/pickup with fuel. From what I've heard this can make the difference between fuel starvation at 1/4 tank versus fuel starvation at 1/4 gallon.

 

Unfortunately this was the last race of 2019 and COVID shut down our races until now, so I won't know if this fixed it until this coming weekend...

 

Either way, not great for your back clambering around the roll cage a million times, so taking the hard top off is 100% worth it if you are repeatedly pulling the fuel pump. I will even race with the hard top off (with arm restraints) if I feel I will be pulling it throughout the weekend to diagnose.