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Does my Ford Fiesta's fuel pick-up hose have a hole in it?

I have a Ford Fiesta 1.2 Finesse 04 plate, petrol engine. When the fuel level goes below 1/4 of a tank, the car starts stuttering, like it's losing power, then suddenly gets it back again. The lower the fuel goes, the worse it gets. It's quite unnerving when trying to overtake on the motorway when you suddenly momentarily lose power, especially with another vehicle behind you. When I have over 1/4 of a tank of fuel, it runs absolutely fine. The most feasible suggestion I've heard so far is that where the pick-up pipe or tube feeds into the tank, there may be a hole or a crack further up the pipe so that when the petrol falls below that area, the hole or crack is then exposed and is sucking in air. Any ideas please?

Asked on 19 August 2010 by nick J

Answered by Honest John
I'd go with the explanation you already have. So it's a matter of a garage accessing the feed in the tank (which it may be able to do via the sender pump access plate on the top of the tank), or simply keeping the tank as full as possible.
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