Fuel Indicator Problem

monty · September 23, 2008

Hi Guys,

The fuel level indicator in my car is not working properly since recent. It shows far less than the actual volume in tank. I realized this when I went for a full tank refill when the reading indicated low (above the red mark) and ended up needing only around 24 liters of fuel for full tank

Where can I find this gauge and what is the extent of the hassle involved with having it adjusted to indicate the correct fuel level again? I would also like to know what might have caused the indicator to go haywire suddenly.

Thanks Guys !

monty

Nilantha · September 23, 2008

monty said:
Hi Guys,
The fuel level indicator in my car is not working properly since recent. It shows far less than the actual volume in tank. I realized this when I went for a full tank refill when the reading indicated low (above the red mark) and ended up needing only around 24 liters of fuel for full tank

Where can I find this gauge and what is the extent of the hassle involved with having it adjusted to indicate the correct fuel level again? I would also like to know what might have caused the indicator to go haywire suddenly.

Thanks Guys !

monty

whats your vehicle model and brand?

rman2000 · September 23, 2008

most probably its due to the float malfucntioning,why not clean up the tank and that way you can see the condition of the float too

Car Maniac · September 23, 2008

As far as I know, in most of the modern and even bit older vehicles (I mean 1990s onwards), the fuel level indicator comes as a electonic system which is either based on a level sensor or sometimes based on a variable resister system. Anyhow the Level Sensor is located in the fuel tank. In most of the cars, you would find this under your back seat. (Once you remove your back seat's lower sitting cushion part, you would be able to find the sensor there with a plug and socket type part and wires coming out of it.) This part may be the thing which has caused your fuel guage to give false readings, so you should take it to a good garage and check the sensor first. By the way, I should ask you the same question. What is your car? Model?

monty · September 24, 2008

Thanks guys! I will have the level sensor checked. The car is a Honda EK3. Hope this sensor is available for the model in case I need to replace it. Thanks again.

monty

monty said:
Hi Guys,
The fuel level indicator in my car is not working properly since recent. It shows far less than the actual volume in tank. I realized this when I went for a full tank refill when the reading indicated low (above the red mark) and ended up needing only around 24 liters of fuel for full tank

Where can I find this gauge and what is the extent of the hassle involved with having it adjusted to indicate the correct fuel level again? I would also like to know what might have caused the indicator to go haywire suddenly.

Thanks Guys !

monty

monty · October 1, 2008

Hi Guys,

This problem has turned a bit tricky and weird now. My original assumption was that the level indicator was faulty. This was based on the fact that last week I was only able to fill in about 24 liters of fuel for a full tank when the level reading indicated low. After this full tank fill the reading indicated just above the half-way mark.

I had to do a couple of trips over the weekend and since I was curious to find out whether the indicator was really faulty or whether the tank actually accepted only 24 liters of fuel, I took the risk and ran till the indicator hit low (and even below) and to my surprise I ran out of fuel !! (Yeah, I was ready for it with a filled up petrol can in my trunk and it also happened at a convenient location ). The car had done quite close to the miles I expected it to do in terms of economy from around 24 liters.

Now then… it seems the level indicator is actually doing its job but the tank only accepts around 24 liters of fuel. I tried another full tank yesterday and bingo!...only 24. 7 liters again. I'm a bit confused here guys . Can this be some kind of an air blockage in the tank that's preventing fuel from entering the tank ?

Are there any garage places you guys recommend for me to have this checked?

Thanks Guys !

monty

MasterDon · October 1, 2008

monty said:
Are there any garage places you guys recommend for me to have this checked?

since it's a honda have you tried upul(malabe).i don't know if he has the machienary to checkout your particular problem though.

Iroshana · October 1, 2008

monty said:
Hi Guys,
This problem has turned a bit tricky and weird now. My original assumption was that the level indicator was faulty. This was based on the fact that last week I was only able to fill in about 24 liters of fuel for a full tank when the level reading indicated low. After this full tank fill the reading indicated just above the half-way mark.

I had to do a couple of trips over the weekend and since I was curious to find out whether the indicator was really faulty or whether the tank actually accepted only 24 liters of fuel, I took the risk and ran till the indicator hit low (and even below) and to my surprise I ran out of fuel !! (Yeah, I was ready for it with a filled up petrol can in my trunk and it also happened at a convenient location ). The car had done quite close to the miles I expected it to do in terms of economy from around 24 liters.

Now then… it seems the level indicator is actually doing its job but the tank only accepts around 24 liters of fuel. I tried another full tank yesterday and bingo!...only 24. 7 liters again. I'm a bit confused here guys . Can this be some kind of an air blockage in the tank that's preventing fuel from entering the tank ?

Are there any garage places you guys recommend for me to have this checked?

Thanks Guys !

monty

What was the capacity u had before?

monty · October 1, 2008

Iroshana said:
What was the capacity u had before?

It filled in about 39 liters

Iroshana · October 3, 2008

monty said:
It filled in about 39 liters

oh god. Shrinking of the fuel tank????? From 39ltr to 24ltr?

I'm also curious to know the reason from experts.

Elvis_Pil · October 3, 2008

Civic tanks are 50-55 liters.. sounds like a busted fuel pump. when the tank gets low it runs out of pressure, hense you gotta keep topping up to run. Seems like the indicator is not the problem.

Edited October 3, 2008 by Elvis_Pil