state police behind me and got towed, yay love fuel starve!

cossie1600

Just want to add that this problem is nothing new, but it is more severe than other cars I have seen and for some odd reason it takes forever to get the fuel to come back. If you do a search, you will see some people have to wait 8 hours before it fires up. Prior to yesterday, my longest hick up was about 5 sec

Cheech

Reading all this makes me count my blessings.

On a recent trip to Vegas, my buddy (driving a 350Z) and I were cruising along from Reno to Vegas. We were chatting over the two-way radios how much gas we had left (distance to empty is very misleading). We thought we had more than enough to make it to the next town. But when the distance to the next fuel stop was greater than what the navigation system calculated, and too far to turn around, we kinda crapped our pants. Off went the AC and found a Uhaul to draft behind.

Fortunately we made, I had less than 1/2 a litre of gas left. I'm glad there were no sharp turns or big hills, otherwise the outcome might not have been so favourable.

Thanks to this thread I'll know to watch my fuel level on sharp right turns.


Cheers.

LakeShow

It's quite frustrating this issue. Now whenever the low fuel warning or 2 dots remain I fill it up because of all the fuel starvation horror stories, don't want to get stranded anytime soon.

__________________
|2013 Audi S4|Ibis White/Black|S-Tronic P+|
|2013 370z|PearlWhite/Persimmon|Touring/Sport/Nav|F.I. CBE 18" CF|
|Sold|2011 370z|Gun Metallic|Touring/Sport/Nav|

VCuomo

Personally, I think there's a design flaw with the Z's gas tank sending units or the software in the ECU. I've got a 2009 and am on my second set of fuel sensors (there are 2 in the gas tank). First set would "stick" on one dot below full, then after a while would drop 3 or 4 dots all at once, and after that as you drove the guage would unevenly drop towards empty. This started happening after I'd had the car for about a year and a half (about 10,000 miles).

So I had the fuel sensors replaced, and it's starting to happen again after about a year (now up to just under 15,000 miles on the car). And, of course, the 3 warranty is over.

I'm convinced there's a design flaw with the sending units and, at times, the gas gauge is showing more fuel in the tank than there really is. I'll be taking my Z back to a dealer and trying to get Nissan to fix the car on their dime (as far as I'm concerned they never fixed the problem that I reported under warranty).

red6spd

Guess I have a "Factory freak" when it comes to this issue as well. I have made all kinds of sharp turns with maybe only 2-4 LED's on the dash. IDK?

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2010 Base+Sport 6spd: Stillen G3, FI Non-Resonated CBE, FI Non-Resonated Test Pipes, UpRev Tuned, Custom 24R Oil Cooler, JDM Rear Fog-OEM Harness.
???Whp ???WTQ (Will find out come spring time)

mhcoss

I think sometimes this may be an issue with accurate tank gauging..

stratburst

This is a great idea! The more noise we make about it the more likely Nissan will do something about it.

cossie1600

Sorry, no one has a factory freak or a special car (unless 12 got a redesign). The z gas tank goes over the driveshaft tunnel, resulting in two sides. Since the factory fuel pump is on the passenger side, fuel starvation happens when gas rolls to the left side on long sweeping right turns. Also if you reference my previous photos I found online, you can see the "reserve cup" that holds the gas for the fuel pump is extremely tiny in comparison to the 350 or other cars. Fuel starvation can problem at 13 gallons given the right condition. You just hope you are not hitting it when someone is close behind you or you can get the car refire soon after. If not, just stay calm and call for a tow to your nearest gas station. Or if you wait long enough for gas to roll back to the passenger side, you might just be able to get the car restarted. M

Remember you are okay when you are turning, the problem is when you are turning or exiting the turn with the throttle open. If you suck up the last remaining drop from the reserve cup, you are screwed. Ou figure you have roughly 3 sec of WOT of fuel at most from that cup.

rxdo

noob question but why dont we just throw in the 350 HR fuel cup/pump assembly?

ShinyBlueZ

I've had my range down to --- a few times now.. it's actually kinda freaky!

I don't wanna be seen walking down the street with a gas can cuz my car ran out. It'd be too embarrassing. People will be like "how can that guy drive the sexiest bluest sports car I've ever seen and not be able to afford fuel? Douche."

cossie1600

Good point, but I highly doubt it given they sit at different locations.

Been there and done that. I was mad because I was making a 210 miles trip and my DTE showed 275 miles at the start of the trip. With about 20 miles to go, all of a sudden mine went from 50 miles to zero. That comes down to an inaccurate gauge. Fine.

Friday night, I had to be towed to a gas station even though I could only get 14. something gallons in there!!! My friend could have driven 2 gallons to me, but I told him to save his time as I am not sure if 2 gallons is going to guarantee a startup. Btw, the view from the top of a flat bed pumping gas is weird

UNKNOWN_370

Never had this problem on the 09 or the 11. I drive hard. I drive up on hills. I DON'T let my gas tank go close to empty. I watch my miles and fill after I have driven approx 200-240miles. I assume there will be 100 to 160 miles in the gas tank depending on how hard I drive my Z.
I bought this car knowing it had, brake cooling, fuel, consumption, oil heating limp mode, fuel starvation and steering wheel lock issues. I never seen a perfect jdm sports car so I buy expecting to have to fix a couple of strange issues on them. I have been modding my car in order to resolve the above issues first. I either have parts installed or have parts ready for install, minus the fuel starve issue, which I take fill up precautions. If there is a fuel pump mod? I will seriously consider it?
Steering lock sucks hard and I'm glad I haven't had to deal with it. The others, you just have to mod these issues out.

Juruki

I've had my car for more than 2 years and never experienced fuel starvation on the streets. I even took a couple hard right turn freeway on ramps when i had 1/4 fuel left to see if it would happen but it never did. I have RE-11's btw
Also, I cant imagine turning that hard with 2 dogs in the car... :P

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09 370z - 7AT
Volk Racing TE37SL / BC Coilovers / Berk HFC / TopSpeed CBE + Y-Pipe / Mines Spoiler

cossie1600

I wasn't going that hard, the car ran out of fuel after I pick up the throttle out of the turn and I used up whatever left remaining in the cup. The fuel slouch prevented the fuel pump from picking up the gas to refill the cup.

julianpayne

I've had the same exact issue happen to me twice at Sebring. One the tank is at 1/2 or below and om HARD right turns, the fuel system starts to retard. I also agree that it is a acrime to release a car with this issue and not address it accordingly....it's making me doubt my decision to buy a Z.

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Julian Payne
2010 White/Perm 370Z Touring/Sport