QuestionOne day I almost ran out of gas on my 2001 caddy deville, I believe I was running on fumes when the engine started shaking, ever since then it just does that and would not stop, I thought that filling the tank completely would stop the problem but it did not. I took it to the mechanic and he ran a diagnostic and told me that it was the coil packs, this may sound stupid but, could the problem be that serious? or could it be just the computer that shut off some of the sensors that read the fuel level and never came back on??
AnswerHello,
Please remember I am not at the vehicle and can only attempt to guess here, however this just does not seem correct.
How would the coil packs be affected by being run low on fuel? You have an electric fuel pump in the tank and if you actually did run it that low on gas, my question would be;did the gas get low enough that the fuel pump was sucking air? It takes only seconds to damage a fuel pump in this situation. Cars with electric fuel pumps cannot be run out of gas, simple as that.
I just don't see how a known issue about the fuel level can turn into an electronic issue (coil packs).
I would have the fuel pressure coming from the tank checked first before changing any coil packs.
Everything is tied together in this car and the computer will try to compensate for anything wrong.
My experience with coil packs is they are only good or bad and no in between. If bad, the engine won't run or it will run so badly, you don't want to drive the car.
Keep all this simple. If the engine ran great before you ran the tank almost dry, the first thing I would be looking at would be fuel pump related.
Why out of the blue would coil packs be bad?
Just my thoughts.
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