JonRup
join:2008-07-20
Hilliard, OH Reviews:
 ·WOW Internet and..
·RoadRunner Cable
| Fuel guage showing inaccurate readings - 2000 Taurus I have noticed lately the tachometer has a mind of its own. If you fill the tank completely sometimes it will only show that it has a little over 3/4 a tank, and sometimes its fine. Not a huge deal for me but when I'm running low on fuel it will drop from 1/4 tank all the way to empty, which triggers the gas light...so I never know how much fuel I really have left!
My solution to this has just been to keep the tank full. Is this a expensive fix?
EDIT: It has the Duratec engine |
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 cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
 ·Frontier FiOS
| said by JonRup:I have noticed lately the tachometer has a mind of its own. Tachometer or fuel gauge? They are two different things.
If you fill the tank completely sometimes it will only show that it has a little over 3/4 a tank, and sometimes its fine.
The carbon wipers in the potentiometer that changes resistance can wear out over time, or there was some types of fuel (IIRC higher in sulfer) that would accelerate that wearing. A bad connector or a worn wire also could be the culprit. |
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 JuggernautIrreverent or irrelevant?Premium
join:2006-09-05
Everywhere
kudos:1 | I think most sending units are integral with the fuel pump.
That said, to change these out, you have to drop the tank from the underside as the unit is on the top next to the floorboards. Mine ran $500 to do for a re and re. Not cheap at all.
As cdru  suggested, check the values to make sure of the problem. |
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| reply to JonRup
Do you put in cheap, crappy gas? |
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 Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
kudos:18 | reply to JonRup
8 Gadgets That Lie to You Every Day
»www.cracked.com/article_19571_8-···day.html
quote:
#8. Fuel Gauges
For most people, there's no mystery to fuel gauges other than "Why is something spelled 'gauge' when it is pronounced 'gage'?" The gas tank is 100 percent full when the needle is pointing to "F" and completely empty when the needle is at the bottom, right?
Actually, no. You might have noticed that for the first 50 or so miles, the needle hardly moves down at all, whereas when you get down to the last bit of gas, the needle goes down to empty and scares the shit out of you, even though you find out after filling up that you still had well over a gallon left.
How Fuel Gauges Work
»auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-gauge.htm
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What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time? |
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scross
join:2002-09-13
Cordova, TN | reply to JonRup
At least until you get this problem resolved, the standard thing to do here is to set your trip-meter to zero whenever you fill up, then when that gets to 200 miles or so (or whatever you think is appropriate), fill up and reset it again. Not only does this give you a reliable backup mechanism for your fuel gauge, but it also lets you keep an ongoing eye on your gas mileage, so many people I know just follow this procedure as a matter of routine. |
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| reply to JonRup
If I follow your description correctly(or reasonably so) your gauge is working just fine, you shouldn't let it get low enough for the light to come on(usually 1/8 full)or even below 1/4 tank, the pictures posted by Dr Olds shows how the gauge float works. It isn't designed to be super accurate anyway.
If you question its relative accuracy, use the Odo to calculate when you need to get fuel, but they may change too, you will get many more miles per gallon on the highway at a constant speed than you will in the city stop and go at 30mph. |
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 NanDogThe Pup Was Female, I'M NotPremium
join:2003-12-28 | reply to JonRup
said by JonRup:I have noticed lately the tachometer has a mind of its own. If you fill the tank completely sometimes it will only show that it has a little over 3/4 a tank, and sometimes its fine. I've been havin' a similar problem.
When the tachometer reads high my gas gauge quickly reads low!! 
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See ya across the Rainbow Bridge, my good and faithful friend! |
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| reply to scross
There are any number of clever workarounds to lazily-engineered devices in cars. The smartest workaround is redesigning the device so it doesn't suck. Funny how nobody ever mentions that. |
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Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
kudos:18 | said by dbsanfte:There are any number of clever workarounds
Kindly list them please. |
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| That would be pedantic. The point is that there are trivial ways to build an accurate gas gauge, and few car makers bother. |
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scross
join:2002-09-13
Cordova, TN | said by dbsanfte:That would be pedantic. The point is that there are trivial ways to build an accurate gas gauge, and few car makers bother.
Actually, sulfur in gasoline is apparently to blame here, for the most part, so you could point fingers at the oil companies for not filtering more of that out of the fuel supply. And then they could point to the fact that "sweet" (low-sulfur) crude oil is getting more expensive and harder to come by, so they are being forced to use more "sour" (high-sulfur) crude oil at the refineries. |
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JuggernautIrreverent or irrelevant?Premium
join:2006-09-05
Everywhere
kudos:1 | Well, except for the detail they could refine it out...
But, then they'll whine ad naseum how gas would go up, and how Patriotic they are to keep prices so low for the 'Merican people, and, and, and...
Shall I go on?  |
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scross
join:2002-09-13
Cordova, TN
1 edit | said by Juggernaut:Well, except for the detail they could refine it out...
But, then they'll whine ad naseum how gas would go up, and how Patriotic they are to keep prices so low for the 'Merican people, and, and, and...
Shall I go on?
Nope; I agree with your sentiment here. As it is, I suspect that they run right on the edge of what they think they can get away with - and on some vehicles, like my MPV, you can actually smell the sulfur when you pull the hot vehicle into the garage. Mazda will be the first to tell you that it's a fuel problem, not an engine/emissions problem. But the oil companies haven't always been as careful as they should have been; see »www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/···20.shtml . |
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| reply to JonRup
After about 18 months the fuel guage on my 2010 Mustang GT started to read 7/8ths full when the tank was actually full. It doesn't do this all the time, sometimes it reads full correctly.
I don't solely rely on the guage, I also use the trip odometer.
I doubt this has anything to do with the quality of the gas. I use 10% ethanol blend very low sulphur 89 octane.
-Bob |
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Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
kudos:18 | reply to dbsanfte
said by dbsanfte:That would be pedantic. The point is that there are trivial ways to build an accurate tank float system, and few car makers bother.
That's quite a proclamation. Sounds much more like you don't have any trivial ways to build an accurate gauge. Otherwise if it were really that trivial and yet that innovative in alleged accuracy, the automakers would have it instead of the current popular design.
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What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time? |
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 stev32kPremium
join:2000-04-27
Mobile, AL
kudos:1
1 edit | reply to JonRup
I would also be interested in knowing a trivial way of building an accurate fuel gauge. That is something you could patent and get rich from.
P.S. and that's not trivial. |
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Reviews:
 ·Colbanet
| reply to JonRup
»www.vp-scientific.com/liquid_lev···nsor.htm
And that's just one method, above and beyond dozens of different methods of accurately detecting the level of a liquid in a container.
The specifics don't matter. It's an obnoxiously simple engineering problem; the only reason it isn't solved is that the car makers don't care. |
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Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
kudos:18 | said by dbsanfte:http://www.vp-scientific.com/liquid_level_sensor.htm
And that's just one method, above and beyond dozens of different methods of accurately detecting the level of a liquid in a container.
The link you supplied is for a fixed level reservoir and it uses an optical on/off switch (instead of potentiometer which is needed for a graduated fuel gauge). That system would never work for a fuel gauge.
quote:
The V&P Liquid Level Sensor can be used with most reagent reservoirs to maintain the amount of liquid in the reservoir. The sensor is small and non-intrusive and is easily attached to the side of a reservoir. Once the sensor detects the absence or presence of a liquid it will trigger a signal. This signal then activates a pinch valve, peristaltic pump, or any other flow restriction device to automatically refill the reservoir to maintain a desired liquid volume.
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What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time? |
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| I can't believe I'm having this discussion. You can have more than one sensor on the side of the tank. It isn't rocket science. |
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