After putting $20 in my gas tank one day, I noticed the needle never went up.
I became nervous, because I had to drive 50 miles and was afraid that maybe no gas came out of the hose at the pump (crazy, I know)
As I said, after putting gas in the tank the needle never went up. It did however, go down on my way to my destination.
Out of fear of not knowing how much gas I had, I put $20 in, again.
Once again, nothing happened. I drove home and it only went down more, FAR below empty.

The next morning it was at just shy of a half tank. I was relieved, thinking it was only a glitch. But ever since then, when I put gas in, it has no effect on the gas gauge. After driving enough (anywhere from 20-250 miles) the needle eventually resumes position where it should be. I filled up my tank and then embarked on a 600 mile road trip. after driving 60 miles it jumped from E to just below Full. For the remainder of the trip, it stayed right under full.) It NEVER goes to proper level after fill up.
On most occasions, it doesn't stick like that. It just acts as if no gas has been put in and keeps going down, and down, and down.

This is a horrible predicament that I have been dealing with for the past two months. I am a pizza delivery driver, so it is extremely important to know how much gas I have.

Does anyone have any hunches as to what this could be? I checked the back of the cluster and all the wires LOOK fine. I took the float out of the gas tank and tried to get readings on my digital multimeter but the readings were all over the place, from 5v - 170v.

Faulty cluster? sender unit? relay? I am lost. :/

 

Something like that happened to me once.

I was at a meet and it was hot as ***** so I went to sit in my car and turned the A/C on. Out of no where, I look and the gas is marking way under empty when I knew I had at least half a tank before. I got under the car to look for a leak and then said WTF. It wasn't until I was on my way home that it went back up to where it should be.

It hasn't happened since so I haven't bothered to figure out why it happened.

 

Check the sending unit in the tank.

 

i might have the same issue

 

assuming the issue IS the sending unit, should I just buy one off Ebay?
I tried to check it with a digital multi meter but the readings were sporadic and all across the chart. I wasn't sure if I was just doing it incorrectly or what.
I wish the best of luck to everyone in this situation, it is such a pain in the a$$ to have no idea how much gas you have.

 

I have a similar problem.. my gas shows accurately, but only when the car is running. If I buy gas, the meter goes where it should. Goes up and down as it should. BUT when the car is off for a long amount of time (e.g. get home, sleep, turn it on the next morning) the meter always goes to half. Then I start driving and it slowly goes back to where it should.

I'm going to change my fuel pump in a few days and see if that changes anything

 

bump?

 

Did you replace the sending unit? You can get a new OEM for ~$135 and a used one from a partout in the classifieds for less.

 

good, best of luck to everyone in this situation, it is such a pain in the a$$ to have no idea how much gas you have

 

Its only a pain in the rear end for someone that borrows your 4th gen. If you maintained your car well, most 4th gen people can tell you how much by miles driven.

 

4th gen gas gauges suck even when working... If I make a long right (hwy entrance) the gauge goes down 1/8 and if j make left it goes up lol... but a maxima for a delivery car? Too thirsty IMO

 

Maybe try tightening the screws in the back of your gauge cluster. I used to have a 95 Maxima that did that, and the RPM's would fluctuate all over the place, but i tightened all of the screws and it fixed my problems. I hope this helps you.

 

Yeah I'm assuming it's the sending unit. I'll give it a shot one of these days when the weather finally jumps above 3 degrees F.


And yeah, it is pretty thirsty for a delivery car lol but my boss pays a dollar per every 5 miles driven. To break even I need to hit about 18-19 mpg, with my (true) CAI & warpspeed y, I average about 26 city 30 hwy so it's not as bad as it seems.

I did try tightening the screws when the problem originated during this summer but I will give it another shot.
Thanks to all.

 

When my car was new it had two sending units replaced under warranty...maybe yours is original....