Gas gauge culprit?

[MDCmotorsports]

Which one is the culprit here...

I can see the needle says 1/4 tank, but the warning light is on.

WTF?

Which one is lying?

The needle or the light?

Really don't care to test it by running out of gas.

 

[robbo185]

go buy a 2 gallon can of gas, then drive it around the block till it runs out.

 

[MDCmotorsports]

And I quote foo!

Really don't care to test it by running out of gas.

 

[KeithH]

The level indicator is known to be wrong - see all the people that have a full tank of gas but the gauge shows empty.

Take the easy way out and fill your tank.

 

[robbo185]

And I quote foo!

yea but i assumed that you meant on a main road or something without some gas in the trunk. I presume too much...its a flaw of mine

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

I would trust the light more than the gauge mine never reads right over half a tank, the car will be full but the gauge is all the way down. The light lets me know what's up. I think my problem is my fuel sending unit not reading correctly just too lazy to fix it.

 

[Idealsupra]

lol yeah the gauge is 99% of the time the problem...since the light is simply two wires and a resistor it rarely is at fault...

the gauge on the other hand has the damn fuel level sender to deal with...and these normally go bad or stick in spots or just plain stop working...

pick up the wood piece in the hatch and unscrew that hole going to the tank and pull the sender out and inspect it and whatnot... its most likely your problem...

 

[lagged]

ummmm...why not just put some gas in the tank?

 

[derK]

same here dude. This whole summer i would always fill up when the needle goes just below the last line. Well i TOPPED it up the other night ( I NEVER EVER top it up, usually $15 goes in), but i could only put in $30 worth at like 30L. So doing the math i have like 30L of gas left when my gauge would read empty.

 

[GrimJack]

It's pretty easy to tell which one is correct.

Wait until they disagree, then fill it with fuel. Check how many gallons / litres it takes to fill at this point. Compare how much fuel you put in with the capacity of the fuel tank, and you will know how close to empty it was, after which deducing whether the gauge or the light is wrong should be ... to coin a phrase ... rather elementary.

 

[suprabad]

how much gas is supposed to be in the tank when the light goes on?

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

I think it's somewhere around 2 gallons when it first comes on
That's what I've guesstimated from my experience