Fuel Gauge Not Lighting All The Way UP

roy'sz

It happens to me also! It also does depend on the levelness of the ground when you are filling up your car. If it isn't flad all the way around then your car will not have all led lights lit up (ie your on a incline with the passenger side higher or the nose is higher than the tail).

Augustus

It's a long shot... but perhaps try a bottle of Lucas Fuel Treatment?

I generally do not believe that these "octane boosters" and "fuel treatment" things really do much of anything. But . . .

1) My wife's DD is a 2010 Subaru Outback with about 60K miles. Last Fall, we noticed that the fuel gauge began stopping just below the "F" mark on fill-ups. Sound familiar? The gauge seemed accurate otherwise, so we decided that we'd look into getting it fixed (out of warranty) if it got any worse and would otherwise just sort of ignore it. It irritated me, but it was her DD and she didn't care as much. A month or so later, I was at a local AutoZone (like a PepBoys, etc) and they had this Lucas Fuel Treatment on sale at the checkout counter for like $3. Never used it before but thought, what the hell, right? Couldn't hurt anything. Added it and filled up the Outback. No change. Gauge still below F. Also no change in MPG, idle quality, or any of the other things it says it does, of course. But at the next fill-up, I'll be damned if that fuel gauge didn't go all the way to (and slightly past) the "F" like it used to. It's kept working normally ever since, going on 6+ months now. I'd sort of forgotten about it. This was before I bought my Z, so I didn't know anything about similar problems with Z's. Did the Lucas stuff fix it? I have no idea, but it sure seems like it might have. It was certainly worth $3, anyway.

2)So when I remembered this yesterday, I went out and bought another bottle for the Z (not on sale, $5) last night. Pulled into my garage with an already topped-up gas tank and the last LED not lit. Added the stuff, drove around a few miles. No change, not lit. This morning, to my surprise, all of the LED's are lit, as they should be. Perhaps fixed? Perhaps just coincidence? I know others have experienced intermittent behavior, so I can only assume that it won't stay fixed. But perhaps this stuff does have some sort of lubricating property that "helps" sticky sender units. No idea, I'm not a mechanic or chemical engineer. Time will tell...

Perhaps worth $5 for someone else to try and see if it makes a difference on your Z. Especially for those out of warranty. It couldn't hurt, anyway.

Cmike2780

^^ it's been tried. Most likely a coincidence. For me, sometimes it will all light up again, sometimes it doesn't the next time I start the car. Usually though, if it all lights up, it will act normally. The fact is, you can't really trust it to be accurate since there is some sort of malfuction/defect in the actual part.



Although that has a grain of truth, it isn't true for me. All the gas stations here are relatively flat and I've tried other stations. If this was true, I would have noticed this much sooner. It's the fuel sender. It sits on top of the tank and I think it means having to drop the tank to install. It's time consuming, which is assume why some dealers hesitate to fix it.172 Fuel Tank :: Fuel & Engine Control :: Genuine Nissan Parts :: 370Z Parts (Z34) 2009-2012 :: Nissan Parts, NISMO and Nissan Accessories - Courtesyparts.com

__________________

[09][MB][6-Spd MT][Touring][Stillen Gen III][K&N][Borla CBE][Evo-R]

roy'sz

oh im not disagreeing with you at all. As a matter of fact, every time I fill up I top off almost a gallon and a half and the final led light is stil not lit. But I just track my mileage out of every tank to find out how much fuel I have onboard

Cmike2780

Yeah, I've been doing the same thing. It's just kind of annoying since I always seem to forget to reset the trip computer.

__________________

[09][MB][6-Spd MT][Touring][Stillen Gen III][K&N][Borla CBE][Evo-R]

roy'sz

lol yah that suxx

jikhead

I tried some Lucas Oil Fuel Treatment two tanks ago. I'm approaching 40k miles, so it was good to add it through the fuel system anyway....but it did not fix the problem. The problem is still the fuel sender and I have the original dealer I bought my car from that is going to replace mine. I still have to work out who's paying for what with Nissan though.

roy'sz

It shouldn't cost you anything from your extended warranty

rudi

I got my sender replaced without question and they seemed to know all about the problem. It was all covered under warranty, no questions asked.

jikhead

Got mine replaced yesterday and the dealer picked up the charges in my case. Not quite sure if it's fixed; when I filled up after leaving the dealer, I still had 1 light not lighting up. Once I got to my buddies house, I restarted it and that last light was then lit up.

ukmastermind

Fuel Treatments like Techron Etc.. wont do a thing because the problem is in the Elec Sending Unit itself.
if the light goes on and off, its the first syptom of the problem.

6MT

It never fails... this thread makes me laugh every time it's brought up.

__________________
Andrew

2009 370Z Sport/Touring 6MT sold
2013 Honda Civic Si coupe D/D

jikhead

I had the low fuel sender unit replaced last Friday. It does appear to have fixed the problem I was getting at low fuel levels. However, I still have the problem with a full tank not lighting up all the way. I think the other sender unit will also need to be change out.

Augustus

Why?

xdeslitx

why didnt they change both of them? being lazy?