I have a 90 se maxima 5spd. I almost ran out of gas the other day and my car started chugging. I got gas and thought it would go away. It didnt. Ive been hearing lots of things that might cause this problem. Some ppl say bc the gas tank was empty in the cold i may have water in there bc of condensation. I think there is air in the fuel line or something cause it appears to be worse going uphill. Is there any way to purge the fuel line or something? Maybe its a clogged fuel filter?

If anyone has any thoughts please share. I dont really want this to turn into shotgun repair and dont want to spend alot of cash. So if anyone else has experienced something like this maybe you can help me out a bit.

 

just to make sure i would change the fuel filter and you could always stick the fuel line in a bucket and turn on the ignition and that would pump out gas if theres any air in it it should come out but ive never heard of that happening. can you describe the chugging better is there any vibration if so if it only at certain rpms i assume theres a power loss any more info would be helpful

 

Run a bottle of Chevron with Techron fuel injector cleaner or fuel system cleaner. See if that helps clear up whatever's clogging your lines.

 

well it seems to idle just fine. when i push the gas it like studders. if i gradualy ease into the gas it will ride smooth but when i hit the gas hard i have no throttle response and it seems to choke.

 

I'd do what matt said and change the fuel filter first

 

Do they salt the roads by you?
If so pinhole rust may be have happened

 

I´ve had the same problem. When I accelerate hard it chuggs for maybe 1/4 of a second. This only happens at hard acceleration and not every time. So far I have changed plugs and wires, fuel filter and fuel lines, checked the ignition timing and adjusted the TPS. I have checked for vaccum leaks and a lot of other things that I can´t remember now. Nothing helps and all my thinks I´m crazy because it´s such a minor problem on a old car.