Anyone Else Have Thier Gas Gauge Accuracy Degrade?

[Benzadmiral]

The gas gauge in the PA has begun to act wonky. I fill up, and the needle doesn't even move until I've clocked about 160 miles. Then it still lags, instead of being approximately correct as it used to.

This behavior started not long after I used MMO in the tank for two or three fillups -- not more than the recommended dose, but it was the first time I'd used the stuff more than occasionally. My gas mileage appeared to go up, but the gas gauge went coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs.

I plan to run the tank down to E, refill, and if necessary pop some Techron in it. If that doesn't work, well, there's the gallons consumed readout on the Driver Information Center (which is always 10% low, but I know about that and correct for it).

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
The gas gauge in the PA has begun to act wonky. I fill up, and the needle doesn't even move until I've clocked about 160 miles. Then it still lags, instead of being approximately correct as it used to.

This behavior started not long after I used MMO in the tank for two or three fillups -- not more than the recommended dose, but it was the first time I'd used the stuff more than occasionally. My gas mileage appeared to go up, but the gas gauge went coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs.

I had a similar problem with my Trailblazer. Last June I had my whole family in the SUV - 6 of us. Stopped at my favorite Shell station to refill and give the ladies a "relief" stop. When I restarted it the gauge when to empty and the low fuel light started to ring. About 100 miles later the gauge went up to about 3/4 of a tank (this is on a 25 gallon tank).
It did this for about a month or two and then pretty much quit working all together or floated between E and about 1/8 of a tank. Judging from what I read at Trailvoy lots of people had this problem. I tried several treatments of Seafoam and Techron but neither helped that problem. The Seafoam seemed to give it more power and run a little smoother though.
The fix was to replace the sending unit on the fuel pump assembly.

Both my Fords stay on full for about 50 - 70 miles and are pretty accurate after that. I don't drive the Toyota enough to know how the gauge works!

 

[IndyIan]

My Neons stuck at 1/8 of a tank in 2006, I didn't notice until I ran out of gas... It stayed stuck for a little while but I think some big pot hole hits knocked it loose again a year later.
What I did was set the trip meter every fill up and then filled up before I hit 450-500km since my driving is consistent. I still set the trip meter now for mileage tracking and as a fuel gauge back up.
Maybe give the tank a few hard thumps with a rubber mallet as it might knock something free.

 

[Spazdog]

I've just gotten used to it's pessimism. But on the plus side, I recently found out I have a low fuel level light! I still had over 3 gallons when it came on judging by how much I was able to put in to fill it up.

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: Camry_Frenzy37
The fuel gauge in my car is consistent from fill up to fill up, but its not consistent across its range, the top half always lasts a large bit longer than the bottom half... but it's always been like that, always the same, so i can't say its changed as it has aged...


I think this is an intentional "feature" of how Toyota calibrates the gauge. This car has a 50L tank, and the quarter full mark on the gauge still leaves about 20L in the tank, while the empty mark where the fuel light first flashes on leaves about 13L in the tank (which is a lot closer to a quarter tank than the needle's hash mark indicates). Its consistent at least.

I chalk it is an attempt at idiot proofing for those who wait til the needle is at E and the fuel light lit to think about gas - gives them enough reserve fuel to get it and still leave enough gas to lube the internal fuel pump.

-Spyder

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: opus1
The Dakota has a 22-gallon tank, I've let the needle get low enough to trigger the "Low Fuel" light twice in the 9 years I've owned it and in both cases, put in about 16 gallons (apparently the Dakota's light is very pessimistic).


Are you sure it has the 22-gallon tank? The other tank size was 18 gallons and how much fuel you put in at the low fuel light is consistent with an 18-gallon tank. My '97 Dakota had the 18-gallon tank, and it'd take about 16 gallons if I let the light come on. The gauge seemed pretty accurate in that truck.

In my current cars ('05 MDX and '11 Camry), the gauge is pretty accurate. As stated before, my old GMs would show full for 100 miles, but our current cars' gauges will fall with use, and the "fall rate" seems relatively consistent across the range.