bad sending unit on '08 Grand Caravan?

[earlyre]

went to the Columbus Zoo yesterday, with my Sister,her 2 kids,and our Mom. Drove Sis' '08 Grand Caravan.(3.3lFlex Fuel, 12x,xxx mi)when she got to my house, it was full(came straight from gas station)i drove it to the zoo, and back, approx 200mi Round trip. according to the gas gauge we used just a tick more than 1/4 tank for the whole trip...
looked up the tank size today, 20.5 gal, so, if the guage is right, we only used ~5 gallons. which works out to ~40MPG.
if we say it was 6 gallon, it still come out to around 33MPG. EPA Est. is 24Hwy.
Between the 3 adults, 2 kids and our stuff, we were about 800 Lbs.(~300 for me, ~300 for mom &sis together,~200 for the 12yr old boy, 4yr old girl, and our Stuff)

so yeah, thinking she need to get the sending unit checked.
-I mean there's no possible way this van got 33-40MPG right?

the gas station they nearly always use (only one in their town)is Shell.

Trip is mostly open road 2&4 lane HWY, 55&65MPH, I did use the cruise, @ the speed limit.

 

[Johnny248]

I don't think you can rely on that. You need to actually run the tank down. My car stays up in the full area for a while, once it get closer to empty the gauge starts dropping faster in the same amount of driving compared to how it reacts when its full.

 

[GSCJR]

This ^^^

 

[cmorr]

Originally Posted By: GSCJR
This ^^^


+1, in my experience very few gauges are linear. Myy wifes caravan is the same way very slow to drop the first 200 then falls rapidly

 

[dparm]

The gauges are actually more accurate towards the "empty" side. That's why it feels like you're running on E forever at times.

 

[901Memphis]

You would be more accurate by going by how many gallons the gas station pump requires you to get full. My Buick is similar, it stays near full for awhile but drops faster after below half.

My Taurus seems more linear and drops much more accurately from full the whole gauge span.

 

[Russ300H]

You have to just fill it and do the math. MY Chevy is still on the F after 100 miles and down to 3/4 after 200. At that rate, I am getting close to 40 mpg, but a fill-up shows 19 or so. When is says empty it IS empty!

 

[earlyre]

well, as i stated,
it's my sister's van,
that was the 1 & only time I've driven it,
and she fueled up before picking us up, Don't Know if she's filled up since.
I don't even know if she checks the MPG each tank, like the rest of us in the family do.
just thought I'd get some outside opinions.

any fuel system cleaners better than others for cleaning stuff off the sender?

 

[Blazered]

There was an article in Car and Driver a while ago about how US drivers prefer a gas gauge that has the Full mark below true full and the Empty above true empty. That way drivers don't feel cheated if the gauge reads below full 2 miles after filling up, and they don't run out of gas as soon as the gauge reads empty. Manufacturers have responded to buyer preference.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: earlyre


any fuel system cleaners better than others for cleaning stuff off the sender?


Cleaners or even a new sending unit would be a waste of money, most likely just the way it's calibrated... Really, it' no big deal just put gas in it when gauge falls below 1/4 tank...

 

[fisher83]

It's normal. My 05 stays on full for a long time. Full to 3/4 takes less time and from 1/2 to empty takes even less than that. Nothing wrong with it. Our other car does the same thing too.

 

[Clevy]

If I fill up my vehicle to absolute full it takes as long to get from full to 3/4 as it takes to get from 3/4 to empty

 

[tomcat27]

there's nothing "wrong" with the sender; other than design. my van uses 5 gallons before the gauge leaves the full mark.

on that van you are probaly getting 22-24 mpg