Hi all. 1997 Altima 4 door sedan automatic - sat for 8 months and then was started up and driven. It would go along just fine and then suddenly not get fuel intermittently, at speed it would do this jerking back and forth thing and when going slower it would kill. Seems like it wouldn't start back up and continue to run until it had cooled off but I'm not positive my data collection efforts were satisfactory... Sometimes it would have a hard time starting although it would turn over. Other times it would start right up and then kill. Then the check engine light came on. This was maybe the third day after it had been started after that long break. Took it someplace and had the fuel filter replaced and put some injector cleaner in the gas tank. Did better for a few days but then started doing it again. Checked again by the mechanic and he could find nothing wrong. Drove it again and it killed on the freeway after the jerking "I'm not getting consistent fuel" feeling had just started up. Let it rest and it drove fine for a mile then did it again. This time the check engine light came back on.
So I'm thinking fuel pump? Either the pump itself or a loose wire? Or some sort of control unit? Somebody said the fuel pump is in the gas tank and thus very hard/expensive to work on. True? The two male adults in my life seem to have a disagreement on whether or not this was caused by starting it up after 8 months without first getting rid of the old gas. I just read the thread here about starting a car after it's been sitting and y'all seemed to say that old gas has to go, but maybe 8 months isn't that long?
Thanks so much! cindi