Got the car from my Dad, he was having a problem with it where the car would stall and not start again until there was more than 1/4 of gas in it. It would sputter and surge if the tank was half or below. This was a problem he had been dealing with for almost two years, and being a college student driving back and forth 40 minutes each day, I couldn't exactly afford to keep it above a half tank.

After attempting to replace the fuel pump myself (THANK YOU Ford for making parts impossible to find for certain manufactor dates!!), I ended up taking it to a trusted mechanic. After being there for two weeks, he had no idea what the hell the problem was, other than the "correct" pump I put in was only putting out about 30% of what it should be.

Took it to the dealer, WORST MISTAKE. It sat there for three days, and all they did was reprogram the computer and break the damn fuel gauge sender. Now, I have no idea how much fuel was in there (always read either just below 1/4 or just above 3/4) and it would randomly sputter or stall out of nowhere. Took it back, they told me they reprogrammed the computer again (basically their way of saying "go away"). Not a damn thing solved, AND now the light under the dash on the passenger side won't work (still not fixed) and the resistor pack for the blower motor went. They tried blaming it on me, as well as the gauge sender not working even though those were both working just fine when I brought it in.

After two weeks of dicking around, they replaced the computer for a whopping $698.00. I picked it up, filled the tank, set the trip odometer to 0 (had to do it since I had no fuel gauge now), and went to get on the highway. As soon as I rounded the corner to get on the ramp, spuddered, spuddered, and stalled. I don't remember the last time I was so angry. Finally got it started and my foot was to the floor for most of the trip back to the dealership. I'm surprised I didn't get into an accident, or a ticket for that matter. After yelling at the manager for 10 minutes, they agreed to "take another look at it," which just pissed me off even more. They called me the next day saying that the FUEL PUMP ASSEMBLY needed to be replaced, which would cost somewhere around $400. FORTUNATELY, they replaced it for free as well as the resistor pack. Still doesn't change the fact that almost $700 was dropped in this piece of trash for a problem that was wrongfully diagnosed.

The fuel assembly did the trick. I can run the tank all the way down till the fuel light comes on without any problems. There is still a surging problem between 40 and 60 MPH.

The only other thing I have to say is that the Haynes manual I bought for the car.... is maybe 10% accurate for my '99 SE. Everything else seems to reference the earlier models. At least the procedure they put in there for replacing the fuel pump is completely different than what I actually had to do.