So I'm going to pick up my girl from Oakland to SF the other day and my gas light comes on outta no where (I got a half tank) the gas meter is still fine and shows a half tank, but the orange light comes on. This scares me because from Oakland to SF I have to cross the bay bridge and when you get stuck on the bridge an emergency viechle or a cop comes to push you to a safe spot to pull over so say goodbye to your bumber. So I pullover and I can't see any leaks, but I just washed my car and everything is dripping. I stop and restart and the problem goes away...so I pick her up.

All is fine until yesterday I am low on gas so I put 18 in my tank (I'm broke) and I get a little over quarter tank from that at 3.45 a gallon premium. Usually I get just under a half tank including whatever little gas I had left. So I start driving and I go only a couple miles to run some errans and I go from a little over a quarter tank to about an 8th tank. DAMN!!! and then it goes back up to about a quarter...then back down...then up...and so on. This is scaring me cause I am not a rich dude and I hate when I gotta fix something, but its just part of owning a car that ain't new (or a car period). So when I get home and I'm at about a quarter (mind you I run my car real light in order to get the best gas milage possible so usually my little run wouldn't have even registered on the meter). Can anyone tell me what's going on???

I've experienced this twice, neither time on the J but two other vehicles.

You've gotta problem with either your fuel sending unit or fuel pump or both. Use a scan tool to check for a code. You'll either need to replace one or both parts.

Crap!2 Questions:1. Roughly how much did you pay both times2. How safe is it to drive? (i.e. is the gas meter accurate when it goes up and down and/or do I run the risk of the car dieing if it doesn't send gas to the engine or somethin.)

CAN YOU SMELL GAS IN(YOUR TRUNK) OR OUT OF YOUR CAR??? WHEN YOU PARK IT FOR THE NIGHT IS THERE ANY ON THE GROUND OR UNDERNEATH THE CAR (GOOD WAY TO CHECK FOR LEAKS UNDER THE CAR IS A LARGE PIECE OF CARDBOARD AND LEAVE IT THERE OVER NIGHT AND WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING YOU LOOK ON THE CARDBOARD AND SEE IF YOU HAVE ANY LEAKS,OIL ,TRANY,GAS,ECT AND IT ALSO GIVE YOU A CLOSE PROXIMITY TO WHERE THE LEAK IS!!!)OTHER THAN THAT THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAD WITH MY J WAS A BAD GROUND WIRE GOING TO THE FUEL PUMP AND THRU EVERYTHING OUT OF WACK ALSO!!!! HOPE THIS HELPS SOME KEVIN

Sarcastik wrote:Crap!2 Questions:1. Roughly how much did you pay both times2. How safe is it to drive? (i.e. is the gas meter accurate when it goes up and down and/or do I run the risk of the car dieing if it doesn't send gas to the engine or somethin.)

Answers:

1. It'll be expensive. Try to get a code from a scan tool first to verify the problem.2. My car was showing 3/4 tank when I ran out of gas and totally killed both the fuel sending unit and pump.

Kccake take your all caps off. Its like your yelling at everyone in your post. I know maritimers from PEI are a lot more friendlier

I don't see or smell any gas under the car, but from what driverdriver is saying I don't think this matters. Where do I go to get one of these scanner things? I have a small garage in Oakland that is pretty reliable, but they are small and I don't think they will have one. Can I take it right in or would you advise having it looked at first? If there is ANY chance it could be something less sevre or something that will work itself out I wanna know. Thanks ya'll.

It is very likely that you fuel tank gauge unit is bad, which is part of the fuel pump/fuel sending unit in the tank, the only way to test it would require you to take the whole unit out to test the resistance between the terminal while you move the flowing thing up and down.Here is a pic of what you'll be looking at when the unti of out of the tank, with the part that is likely bad in the middle of the pic.

But what about the scanner though?

the scanner is not going to tell you anything if fuel pump or the sending unit is bad. The best way to test the fuel pump is a fuel pressure test and the best way to test the sending unit is what i said before.If you want, you can do a self diagnostic test to the ECM to see if the ECM has any code. To do that you don't even need a scanner.

Thanks for your help. I just realized you live in the bay. I am not familiar with cars at all Im ashamed to say. Where do you take your car? Should I drive it or have it towed cause I don't want it to stop on the drive over to the shop (on the freeway) when I'm just going to have to have it towed anyway. Even though right now it drives fine. What are the risks of the engine failing from not getting enough gas.

I just send you a e-mail.

oops...my fault that email address is out of date. If you still have it in your sent box try forwarding to [email protected]!