Gas Guage and Miles till E Broken

[Blaze489]

So long story short, something broke, Dealership fixed it, then I was then driving then all of a sudden the car stopped. Brought it back to the dealership and found out I ran out of gas. The gauge still read a little under 1/4 a tank and 46 miles till E. so the dealership replaced the driver side and passenger side gas tank sensor. It then happened again. Anyone have any ideas why my car is still telling me the wrong fuel level, about 3 gallons off. It has to be something with the needle or miles till E because they are tied together somehow since they are both wrong. Dealership said they are contacting engineering. Wonder if anyone on her can help.

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[wildcatgoal]

Interesting...

 

[MSMStannyl]

It almost sounds like there is something in your gas tank displacing 3 gallons. Lol.

That sucks man. Hope it gets worked out. In the meantime, at least you know when you're getting near "E" now...

 

[Blaze489]

Yea I just subtract 46 miles than what it tells me. They were wondering if I completely fill up would it stop before full, nope other way around. I told them to just siphon all the fuel out and you will see where the gauge stops.

 

[GT_Dave]

When my car gives me the 50 mile warning I can only put 12 gallons back in the tank.

 

[Blaze489]

Just wanted to give some quick numbers. I was at 78 miles till E. so I filled up completely adding 13.6 gallons. Computer says 247 miles till E. So 247miles/16gallons = 15.4miles per gallon which seems right. So before fillip I had 16gallon tank - 13.6 gallon fill up , so only had = 2.4 gallons left. 78miles/2.4 gallons = 32.5 miles per gallon which is weird .

 

[Zombo]

I filled mine up today with 8 miles left on the tank - it took 14.82 gallons. So far, I've averaged 14.5mpg

 

[Zombo]

Just wanted to give some quick numbers. I was at 78 miles till E. so I filled up completely adding 13.6 gallons. Computer says 247 miles till E. So 247miles/16gallons = 15.4miles per gallon which seems right. So before fillip I had 16gallon tank - 13.6 gallon fill up , so only had = 2.4 gallons left. 78miles/2.4 gallons = 32.5 miles per gallon which is weird .

I think there is always a reserve built-in to the numbers. I just added 14.8 gallons with 8 miles left showing. Don't forget the Seinfeld episode when Cosmo Kramer Drove the Saab...

 

[The Chairman]

I'm going to show my age here, but back in the day, we checked the accuracy of the fuel gauge in a very simple way:
- Find your lawnmower gas can (at least 2 gallon size). Fill it up. Put the full gas can in your trunk.
- Drive the car normally until it runs out of gas.
- Note gauge reading. That's the real Empty point.
- Pour in the 2 gallons, drive to the closest gas station and fill it up.
- 2 gallons plus what you added is your true capacity.
Now you know the empty point and actual capacity. If the gauge was far off, we would remove the sending unit and bend it to the right spot. Often found that the float had pin holes and was filled with fuel. So we replaced the float.
I haven't used this approach in a long, long time. Seems to me that your float is stopping before it gets to the bottom of the tank so the sending unit is reading that it still thinks it has fuel left. Did they remove the whole fuel pump and check the float area for a blockage?

 

[nastang87xx]

When my car gives me the 50 mile warning I can only put 12 gallons back in the tank.

I get the same behavior. Which is fine though,really.

 

[Tomster]

IIRC, running out of gas could burn out your electric fuel pump. Don't run out of gas.

 

[The Chairman]

IIRC, running out of gas could burn out your electric fuel pump. Don't run out of gas.

Don't do it habitually. But AAA will tell you that thousands of people run out of gas everyday. The real problem is if you are one of those people that runs below 1/4 tank all the time and waits until the last minute to fill up... The fuel in the tank cools the high pressure fuel pump, and if you run with the pump uncovered a lot, that's when over heating can occur, damaging the pump. In most Mustangs, the fuel pump is mounted vertically inside the tank. So when you have less than about 1/4 of a tank, the pump is mostly uncovered.

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