fuel gauge drops while driving

[LoxMurda]

I was parked on tilt for about 6hrs, with the dirver side of the car on high ground and passanger on low. when I started the car I noticed tank on E. But i just filled up 2 days ago. I thought maybe the floater had to readjust when I leveled the car out but it didn't. I put in park and watch it slowly rise to where it should be, once I began driving it quickly dropped to E.... I checked my trip and it showed (km) instead of miles. I took the neg. of the batt. and reset the car. Trip showed miles now instead of (Km) and fuel gauge was back up.....as soon as I put the car in drive it fell to E... ...someone any info please!!!!!!!!!!!

[maxnix]

May I suggest you RTFOM?

[Haitian_King]

May I suggest you RTFOM?

Is there a section on phantom fuel levels?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Not sure about the fuel level, but the trip odometer can be switched between kilometers and miles by pressing the reset button instead of twisting it.

[AlabamaDan]

My fuel gauge drops while driving too. It drops especially fast when I push that little skinny pedal all the way down!



Sorry I couldn't resist.

[LoxMurda]

didn't know that ill try it, may I did it by accident...but fuel gauge is action so suspect right now..

[LoxMurda]

RTFOM

[maxnix]

Read The Factory Owner's Manual

If you don't have one, download it at http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/infiniti/

[LoxMurda]

yeah i'll give that a try once I'm done with my 2yr mechanical/electrical engineering course.

[AlabamaDan]

Oh, Factory. That's what it stands for.

[Razi]

Oh, Factory. That's what it stands for.

HAHAHAHA, that's what I thought before.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Oh, Factory. That's what it stands for.

Hahahahaha, indeed!

[Q45tech]

When the fuel gauge changes without the tank being opened, contaminates in ethanol [used to remove water from ethanol at factory] are the usual cause.

Sulphuric acid and calcium oxides were used early on by those that failed high school chemistry II and ran distillaries.

Chemicals react with the variable resitance element and silver contacts in the tank sensor changing resistance.

Could just be intermittent connections adding resistance.

[NightRiderQ45]

Glad I have gas stations here that doesn't sell that ethanol crap!

[bullittandy]

When the fuel gauge changes without the tank being opened, contaminates in ethanol [used to remove water from ethanol at factory] are the usual cause.

Sulphuric acid and calcium oxides were used early on by those that failed high school chemistry II and ran distillaries.

Chemicals react with the variable resitance element and silver contacts in the tank sensor changing resistance.

Could just be intermittent connections adding resistance.

To fix the resistance between the contacts add several pounds of sand to the tank to act as an abrasive.

[Q45tech]

Sometimes adding a big dose of FUEL detergents [old BG44k, Techron x 4, Redline and others] might clean the potentiometer [google it].

Worth the costs compared to time cost to just open fuel tank [since even that requires a new fuel pump gasket]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jesda]

This happened on our 1993 Mazda MPV. In 2004, it had only 56,000 miles but it spent over 2 years sitting.

The icky fuel contaminated the sender.

[LoxMurda]

now that i could believe...i added some fuel system cleaner to my tank...you are wise...

[texasoil]

It is possible you got a tank of fuel that had 'active sulfur' contamination from faulty refining process. That has happened before an dit quickly tarnishes the sliding contacts on the level sensor. There is a gas tank 'additive' especially formulated to help correct the condition. I do not remember the name--but ask your good auto parts store. It says on the bottle --fixes fuel guages or something.

[Q45tech]

http://www.chevron.com/product....aspx

Techron says it does!

"GM Fuel System Treatment PLUS, P/N 88861011 (for U.S. ACDelco®, use 88861013) (in Canada, 88861012), is now available.

Added Benefits and UsesThe PLUS portion of GM Fuel System Treatment PLUS is the addition of a filmer additive that, when used regularly, can protect fuel system sending units from the corrosive effects of certain sulfur contaminants found in some of today's gasoline.

Sulfur contamination can disrupt electrical continuity of certain fuel sending units and lead to erratic or false fuel gauge readings. With scheduled usage, GM Fuel System Treatment PLUS protects against the effects of harmful sulfurs in gasoline."