About a week ago, I was driving up an 8% grade with not much fuel in the tank, probably a gallon or two. The car sputtered a bit, and then stalled. I was able to start it up again, drive up the hill about a mile, and then coasted down in neutral to the gas station I was heading to that was about 2 miles away. I filled up, and thought I was just stupid for drawing down the gas so much. The car has about
103,000 miles on it.
This morning, I got a minor version of the same hesitation while idling at a level stop light with a nearly full tank. I suspect some crud could have been pulled into the fuel line last week, and that might have caused the hesitation this morning. I decided to go to work anyway, and the car drove fine the rest of the way in, about 10 miles.
I guess replacing the fuel filter is the logical first step. Is this easy to do for someone who isn't afraid to turn a wrench, or should I just take it to the shop? If someone has other ideas about what might be wrong, I'd appreciate hearing them.