The gas guage has stopped reading how much gas I have in the tank and stops reading at 3/4 full so I ended up on empty thank God not on the highway. I keep filling it up every 3 days now because I am so paranoid of running out of gas again. I have to take it in but would like some background knowledge of what the problem might be. Thanks.
Car Troubles again
- Thread starter Marla
- Start date
thumper18474
Well-known member
There's a sensor inside the tank which gives you how much gas you have
its either fallen off
broke off
or its just stuck
To fix it they will have to drain your tank and pop the top off the tank to see
that means they will have to remove the tank
shop rates are usually $100/hr or more unless it's a mom and pop set up
Make sure they don't try and say the seal around the top or the top and bottom are gone cus it'll cost between 3 and 5 hundred depending on the make and model and location of the tank
its either fallen off
broke off
or its just stuck
To fix it they will have to drain your tank and pop the top off the tank to see
that means they will have to remove the tank
shop rates are usually $100/hr or more unless it's a mom and pop set up
Make sure they don't try and say the seal around the top or the top and bottom are gone cus it'll cost between 3 and 5 hundred depending on the make and model and location of the tank
Bit of a long shot, but had a similar problem where the gas gauge would go haywire at a lower levels. Added some fuel line / injector cleaner and the problem went away after running a few tanks of gas through the car. The gas level sensors get gummed up over time. Can search your car with the problem, and see if it is a common problem with a solution.
Long shot thing to try. When you have about 1/3 fuel. Go to a parking lot and "slosh" the tank, but allowing the car to move to 5 kph or so and slamming on the brakes, do this a few times, could knock it loose. In the meantime reset your odometer when you gas up so you know how many km you have gone. Look in your manual, see what your tank capacity is, and you will get a very good idea how far you can go between fill ups.
Google is your friend here. Might be a common bug with your make model car.
In any event no big problem. Years ago had a that happen with an old car when its gas gauge failed. Never got it fixed because it was an expensive repair since the gas tank had to be dropped to replace the bad gas gauge. Labor cost more than the part!
Since the car always got 350 miles to a full tank of gas even in the winter, I just logged every gas fill up with the odometer and filled up again before hitting 350 miles and never ran out of gas.
I had the same problem with my first car. I knew it got 500km to a tank, so every time I filled up I made note of the odometer. Bit of a nuisance, but not a safety issue.
I bought the vehicle for $500, so I wasn't about to pay almost that again to have someone fix the issue.
Inside your gas tank there is a plastic piece called a sending unit. This unit has hoses attached to it sending fuel to the engine. It also has a float with an electronic reader that's used to give you the reading on your gas gauge (it moves up and down as you fill/empty the tank)
My guess is that electronic float as gone bad. Most placee replace the whole sending unit. Again this is a guess it'll have to be properly diagnosed
BINGO!!!
Anyway, what you really want to know is how far you can go. Just get used to reading a different gauge, one that reads out in miles/kilometres instead of ¾, ½ etc., (which likely weren't ever true amounts).
Fill up, record your mileage from the odometer (or set your trip odometer to zero) drive for a good while — something like a hundred klicks or so — and get filled up again while you do the arithmetic to figure out how far you drove, and wait for the pump to tell you how much gas you used.
Now you can work out the actual number of litres/100k that you burn, and translate that into how far a full (or ¾, ½, ¼) tank will get you. You'll go farther on a no-stop highway route than on stop-and-start city streets, so pick a conservative round number that divides tidily, and resolve to stay at least a ⅙ tank safe. Re-set your trip odometer at every fill-up and reading out those ¼-tank fractions will be second nature.
E.g: If your tank holds 60ℓ, the ¼ tank is 15. So if it takes 10ℓ to do 100km then every 150km, you'll be down a ¼ tank, and you'll want to be hunting up a gas station by the time your odometer's reading 525km. Although you'll still have about 75km range as a safety.
Or, she could trade the old clunker in for a new car, 0% financing available everywhere.
Even at 0%, the semi-monthly repair costs of a clunker aren't likely to exceed the semi-monthly payments for the latest driveable cel-phone.
As a habit I always reset my trip odometer and over time you know exactly how much travel it takes before I have to refill. Hopefully you know your car well enough but even if not, I highly doubt you'll get less than 250 or 300 kms per tank so just fill up every reasonable interval of travel until you get it fixed.
Probably the floater not worth the cost of replacing as they have to dump tank and fuel
Buy a plastic can that you can carry fuel in
Problem solved
run out of gas then empty can into tank then refill at next station
Cost of repairing a clunker is more than the clunker is worth
Buy a plastic can that you can carry fuel in
Problem solved
run out of gas then empty can into tank then refill at next station
Cost of repairing a clunker is more than the clunker is worth
Never carry a can of gas in the car if you do not have to.
Usually if the gas gauge does not work anymore it is because the car is old, get a new car. The cost to repair it is not worth it.
Never carry a can of gas in the car if you do not have to.
Usually if the gas gauge does not work anymore it is because the car is old, get a new car. The cost to repair it is not worth it.
lol
shit advice as usual!
Infinity's have this problem and unfortunately for the average consumer the cost outweighs the benefit of fixing it. Most shops will fuck you since they're gonna be guessing but at the same time will want to get paid for their work.
Like others have said, reset your trip every time you fuel up and do some math. Most cars will be able to do 300-400 on a tank easily so depending on your fuel tank fill up accordingly.
If you tell us the year, make and model i can check the tank size and how often you should fuel up.
Just go get it fixed. It may not be as much as many are making it out to be. Get an estimate and then if appropriate get it fixed. I agree with the cat do not carry a can of gas in the car.
A lot depends on the car in terms of the cost. Some models have the sending unit attached to the submerged fuel pump in the tank and you just take it out and replace the whole thing. Many can be accessed from inside the trunk.
Normally the gage "gets stuck" at 1/4 full due to that is where most people fill up. If yours is stuck at 3/4 that could just be a simple failure of the unity. It also could be as simple as a fuse. Much is dependent on the car model to determine the issue and the cost.
A lot depends on the car in terms of the cost. Some models have the sending unit attached to the submerged fuel pump in the tank and you just take it out and replace the whole thing. Many can be accessed from inside the trunk.
Normally the gage "gets stuck" at 1/4 full due to that is where most people fill up. If yours is stuck at 3/4 that could just be a simple failure of the unity. It also could be as simple as a fuse. Much is dependent on the car model to determine the issue and the cost.
I absolutely agree!! Thanks to Google, this should always be your first step. Hopefully you be able to determine if this is a common problem and the likely cause, you'll get an idea of the repair cost and perhaps even a recommendation for a good local repair shop.
Most people here have assumed it's the sensor (and in my experience they are probably correct), but it could also be; a poorly grounded gas tank, disconnected / corroded / broken wire or bad gauge. Did you check your fuses (anything else not working)? Some sensors do not require the dropping of the gas tank and therefore are a reasonable price to repair.
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