Mike Powell wrote in a message to All:

 MP> Any ideas?

Have you changed the fuel filter in that car?  If it's fuel-injected, 
rather than carbed,  that'll be in the tank,  and will do the sort of
things you describe here.  My car got weird on me when I got low on gas, 
down to a certain point and it'd do weird stuff every time -- I ended up
having to replace the pump.

When they did,  I found out that the pump had been replaced before,  and
that they'd spliced wires in the part that went inside the tank,  rather
than replacing the whole assembly,  which would have cost more.  And that
those splices had gotten hot,  hot enough to blacken the insulation on the
wires.  

Inside my gas tank.

I wasn't real happy to see this...

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