Fuel level issue 2003 pathfinder

[NocturnalQX4]

Hey everyone,

I have a 2003 Nissan pathfinder, it has 124000 miles on it. it has new plugs 6 months ago, new fuel filter 1 year ago.

The Problem:

Last week while on the highway (going 70 MPH) with a qtr tank of gas the truck starts to lose power (3RPM - 0RPM). The truck turns off and all the dash lights turn on, i was able to roll the truck to the shoulder. I put it in park and try to start it, the engine wont turn over. I had a can of Seafoam so i poured that into the tank. After pumping the gas pedal I turned the key and the truck started. I was able to drive to a gas station near by. Put in a full tank of gas and the truck drove like there was nothing wrong.

Yesterday the same senario happened and the truck died on road, i put gas in and the problem went away. Now the Gas indicator light never went on, also the needle showed i had over a qtr tank left. The stranger thing i noticed is when i fill the tank with gas it goes over 20 gallons to fill up. I have never pumped that much gas before (17.6 gallons to fill up usually) . I am still getting around 300+ miles with a qtr tank of gas left.

I am thinking my fuel pump is bad and the sensor that would indicate an empty tank is bad as well. The truck struggles here and there while I'm driving but nothing out of the ordinary. I am not exactly sure what it could be but my guess is the fuel pump may be bad.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Buzzman]

The fact that you can drive like normal until you run out of gas tells me that the fuel pump is working just fine.
It sounds like the sender unit or the float are going bad.
I've never had to remove mine, but I think the fuel level sensor and fuel pump are one unit.
Maybe someone else can chime in to verify that.
You can also check courtesyparts.com and search for the part. That should verify if it's an all-in-one unit.
In the meantime, keep the tank full.

[atraudes]

The fuel pump and level are separate parts. There's a white cap that you unbolt to get into the tank. That cap has the send and receive fuel lines, as well as the electrical connections for the level on top. To replace the level, you'd disconnect the fuel lines and pump wires from the white cap. The cap and level are a single piece and I believe are replaced as such. Be warned that the fuel lines are notorious for getting stuck to the cap and are really difficult to pull off without completely destroying them.

Since it's running fine, suddenly failing, and then needing 20 gallons, I'll concur that you're probably just running out of gas and the level is getting stuck at the quarter tank mark. You can try pulling the level out and see if there's any obvious reason it's stopping at that point. It may also be running into something on its way down in the tank, if the pump or something came loose. And it may just be going bad...

[NocturnalQX4]

The fuel pump and level are separate parts. There's a white cap that you unbolt to get into the tank. That cap has the send and receive fuel lines, as well as the electrical connections for the level on top. To replace the level, you'd disconnect the fuel lines and pump wires from the white cap. The cap and level are a single piece and I believe are replaced as such. .

This is under the rear passenger seat right?

[atraudes]

Rear seat, driver side, yes. I just found some links that may be of interest to you:

post6257287.html

and a discussion on replacing the fuel pump:

post6591520.html

[Mark Sheriff]

ive had my gauge get stuck before also, this was because the fuel pump was replaced and the float did not sit properly when we connected everything back, so best thing to do is first make sure your gas is low (quarter tank at least) before starting this, get a new fuel pump tank seal because most likely when you open the fuel tank you will see the seal is stretched and cant be used again, then pull up on the cap while looking down in the tank to make sure the float is sitting flat and in between the plastic pieces where it should be sitting, it should be obvious when you look in the tank.

if you do this while the fuel is above quarter tank, the float will not sit properly

[NocturnalQX4]

ive had my gauge get stuck before also, this was because the fuel pump was replaced and the float did not sit properly when we connected everything back, so best thing to do is first make sure your gas is low (quarter tank at least) before starting this, get a new fuel pump tank seal because most likely when you open the fuel tank you will see the seal is stretched and cant be used again, then pull up on the cap while looking down in the tank to make sure the float is sitting flat and in between the plastic pieces where it should be sitting, it should be obvious when you look in the tank.

if you do this while the fuel is above quarter tank, the float will not sit properly

You had to replace the pump just to fix the float? It's not a separate fix??

[Mark Sheriff]

no the fuel pump stopped working so when it was replaced, the float was not seated correctly, so i had to go back in and fix it