Cross Country recommendations

I'm new to AF and I am hoping that you guys can give me you're recommendations. I'm going to be driving to Seattle from Detroit, about a 2300 mile trip. I have a 1998 malibu with 114,000 miles on it.

I have already had the lower intake manifold replaced two months ago, from what I have read that was one of the major problems with these cars.

I have taken it to the local mechanic and he has informed me that I am going to need the tie rod ends replaced.. no big deal. That will get done this week, which leaves me about a month to take care of anything else. There are some issues that I would like to find answers to first though.

1. If the gas tank is run too low ( < 1/4 tank) it will not allow you to refuel the gas tank... It will only fill the gas tube.. I have only been able to get it to refuel by having to wait a week or so.. then it will allow you to pump fuel back into it. Everyone that I have asked.. i.e. mechanics, engineers.. nobody has any clue as to what this is. I would absolutly like to fix this before I leave.

2. I have been reading about the car varying it's idle speed.. it will idle at 600 or so then "choke" down for a second to 400, then back up. Someone described it as having a high performance cam installed. This is the perfect desription. I read through all of the forums I could but found no specific answer.

3. I'm not sure if this is related to the above problem but when accelearting it has the tendancy to choke on itself.. Going through the mid RPM's it will almost lose power for a split second..My first thought is that it is a fuel or some kind of air intake issue.


Those are the things that I have noticed are wrong. I would like to hear what you guys have to say about the issues that I have mentioned.. More importantly I would like to hear what you have to say about other things that I should check and look out for. I don't plan on this thing breaking down on me somewhere in the middle of North Dakota. That wouldn't make for a very nice trip.

Thanks,
Tim

Anything people.. Any help would do....

Looking back at what I've done I would consider a fuel pump. It's an expensive repair if you hire it done...maybe 800. Mine went out at around 130,000. They could go a little later or a little earlier but I think that type of mileage is not uncommon.

Another suggestion is the idler and tensioning pulleys. My first one went out on a long trip like yours at about 109,000 miles. Probably 30 bucks of parts and I could have fixed it myself had I done it ahead of time. Instead I had to spend 500 dollars to call someone in after hours on a holiday in addition to the towing charges. Just some thoughts...

If it were me I would do the idler and tensioner pulleys (cheap preventative maintenance that could prevent you from overheating your car and spending big bucks) and I would just assume the fuel pump will hang in there. It's really expensive and who knows, it may last a really long time.