i have a 22 gallon fuel cell in my toyota. some times when the truck has only about 1 or 2 gallons in it, its hard to start. its like its out of gas. it'll run for a second or two then just die. if i give it full throttle it will almost die and then come back and be ok. this only happens when its warm. it will start easy when its low on gas as long as its cold.

i've replaced the fuel filter

 

Almost sounds like some sort of a vapor lock situation when the cell is low. Fix? Don't let it get so low on fuel.

 

Could be the pump getting weak or a clogged filter. Gasoline is what actually keeps the pump cool and if you have been running it that low all of the time, I am betting you have a pump that is getting weak and eventually will quit on you. A lesson I learned the hard way. I would suggest to keep it above the 1/8th tank mark atleast.

 

Does the fuel cell have any kind of fuel collector for the pickup at the bottom of the tank? You know like the stock tank has in the bottom? You could test for vapor lock by simply removing the gas cap. But if your fuel pickup is above the remaining fuel in the tank then thats not good anyways.

 

thanks for all the advise! there is that some sort of anti slosh wiry stuf in the tank, if that could be causing any issues.

 

The "anti-slosh wirey stuff" is the Safety Foam. Basically, since there are no "baffles" like a traditional tank, it uses the safety foam to reduce sloshing and help suppress explosions. Problem with that crap is after a few years, it breaks down and gets sucked up into your pickup tube, which can cause exactly the problem you are describing.

 

well deathcougar thanks a lot for telling me this. i think im gunna pull the tank out tomorrow and inspect the safety foam. do you what i should be looking fore when if i inspect it?

 

I've never heard of safety foam before... do all pickups and 4Runners have it? I sometimes have a hard start and I've done maintenance on the whole system so I know it's good but I've never looked in the fuel tank before.

 

Id say no. Only some aftermarket fuel cells use the foam.