PROBLEM SOLVED
While accelerating pretty good up a moderate hill in a lower gear, I got some very sharp bucking of the car, exactly the kind of symptom that would lead me to suspect that the fuel pump was sucking in some air as the remaining 3 gallons of fuel rushed to the back end of the tank. I immediately proceeded to fill up, topping of the tank with 15.3 gallons and the symptom disappeared no matter how hard I tried to replicate it.
Before I pull out the back seat and open up the tank for a look-see, anyone have any specific experience with this sort of problem?

 

as you've already stated in your post, it sounds like you were simply running out of gas?

I did have the same thing happen to me though, while going up a semi steep hill. I was very near E. Filled the tank up to half tank, and it never happened again.

 

But like I said, I still had 3 gallons left! And on my way to the gas station, I gave it moderate acceleration on a level section of road and got the same bucking. I might expect this same sort of thing if I only had one gallon left, but three!!

 

yeah, I know what you mean. but in my situation, when i refilled my tank, it did take about ~15.5 gallons. so i also had roughly 3 gallons left. Did your gas light come on at any time?

 

My car did a similar thing when the fuel filter was bad. I would guess yours is on its way out. It's probably somewhat clogged and when the tank was tilted the lower pressure probably wasn't enough to push sufficient fuel through the filter.

 

Sounds like the pickup/filter assembly could have come off your fuel pump in the tank.

 

That would be my guess, but I'll wait until I have only about 3 gallons of gas left before I open up the tank.

 

Can someone please tell me a reason why im only getting about 14 MPG which i clocked in every way possible and these are highway miles. I have a 2002 GLE 3.5 L NO MODS. PLEEASSEE HELLPP, and im using 93 octane, wat happens sometimes too is the fuel meter goes up and back down and up again as if its confused, but running it full to empty i got about 240 miles which is about 12-14 miles per gallon highway, HORRIBLE PLEAAASSE HELLLPPPPPPP. i had also wen to the mechanic he said everything looks better than it should, meaning spark plugs, gas coming out the muffler compression and watever else they usually test. I WILL LITERALLY PAY SOMEONE TO FIGURE OUT WATS WRONG WITH IT PLEEAAASSEEE.

 

MAF Sensor? I'm pretty sure the 5th gen MAF's are known to go bad rather easily. I'd look into that.

 

what is that im a MAJOB noob. PLEAAASE SOMEONE HELP

 

use google. mass air flow sensor. right after your intake. should this not be in the 5th gen forums?

 

Anyone??????

 

Anyone?????? HEEELLLPP

 

is wrong with you man? Stop being such a and bumping threads that aren't yours.

 

even tho this isn't the 5th gen forum-it would seem to me that if your GUAGE is working erratically, you shoud check that first...?
To the OP: since you replicated the problem on a LEVEL piece of road, I'd say you have a driveability issue....check plugs, coils, etc...

 

Well, only a couple of us were even close to the cause of the problem. I finally had a nice-weather day with only a couple of gallons left in the tank, so I opened it up to have a look. The strainer bag (made of gauze-like material) that basically sits in the bottom of the tank was crudded up with a sediment substance that looked like clay mud. I shot half a can of carb cleaner on it and it disappeared. Then I reinstalled the fuel pump. Simple as that.
Proof is in the testing: with the tank (as I said) close to empty, on my way to the gas station (and with 415 miles on the trip odometer since the last fill-up), I floored it in first right up to the (JWT) 7200 RPM redline. Absolutely no hesitancy or bucking as the car had been doing previously. When I topped off the tank it took 16.0 gallons (that works out to 25.9 mpg for all you math majors). And if the old butt dyno means anything, the car seems to run a little stronger whenever I get on it.
Moral of the story: my '96 Max has 128K miles on it, and I cannot think of any reason why the sediment I found should be in any way unique to my car. Any of you guys with cars over 100K miles might want to spend an hour checking this out. Chalk up one for the home team, and a +1 for 96sleeper; the rest of you guys whiffed!

 

Now I'm going to go walk off a cliff.

 

i just replaced the fuel filter, fuel pump, fuel tank gasket, and strainer. and im getting the same problem when im low on fuel cant think what it is