Hopefully you all might be able to help. My wife drives a 2019 Ford Transit Connect with the 2.0L with maybe 40-50K on it. The issue is that upon starting sometimes, the fuel gauge will read empty, fuel light will illuminate, and the cluster will read zero miles to empty. The gauge will very slowly start to creep up to where it needs to be after a few seconds. I presumed a sticky sending unit, so I ran four tanks of Shell fuel along with Techron. I thought it was getting better but it has done this again. Today, I did a battery cable pull to reset the ECU, but it did it again just after. No CELs or codes. I’m not sure where to go with it at this point, short of taking it to our usual shop to have it investigated. I don’t have a fancy scan tool as I haven’t really needed one. Any thoughts?
Intermittent fuel gauge issue
- Thread starter xspeedy
- Start date
Techron was likely your best shot at fixing that without taking it apart - I know some GM sending unit contacts responded well to Techron if they were sulfated (Corvettes, for one), so that is likely as good as it gets without breaking out a wrench.
I don't know if it is the same issue or not, but my sending unit/float would stick in my old Explorer. I read on a different forum to use some MMO. It worked great for me in that vehicle. A 22-gallon tank. I would put 8oz in, at 1/2 tank fill it up, then at 1/2 tank again add 8 more oz and fill it up. Basically, fill it when it gets down to 1/2 tank and every other time add MMO. YMMV.
Pour two cans of Berryman B-12 in the gas tank and see if that will help the fuel gauge sending unit.
Berryman B-12 is strong stuff and well suited if the sending unit has varnish on the rheostat that is used to determine the signal that is sent to the ECM (or BCM) for the gas gauge.
Berryman B-12 is strong stuff and well suited if the sending unit has varnish on the rheostat that is used to determine the signal that is sent to the ECM (or BCM) for the gas gauge.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
Floats can have material failure, start sponging up fuel, and stop floating as they should
Also, as others have mentioned, the simple rheostat is just an arm that passes over a coil of wire. If it gets varnished up it won't measure correctly.
I've had to fix both by removing the sending unit from the tank.
Also, as others have mentioned, the simple rheostat is just an arm that passes over a coil of wire. If it gets varnished up it won't measure correctly.
I've had to fix both by removing the sending unit from the tank.
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