I let the gas needle touch the last line and still no gas light. When I fill up from there it only reads about 16 gallons. This is an 18.5 tank. Never seen the light at all.

 

i believe its on the Very far left corner on the dash.. if i remember..

 

Its right below the fuel gauge on both my 97's

 

By chance, does it light up when you turn on your maxima? All my lights turn on upon starting car but not the fuel light.

 

no, it only turns on when your fuel level is very very low. I haven't seen it in a while because I live in chicago where its mostly colder year round so I never go below a quarter tank.

 

The low fuel light is built into the gas gauge itself, below the E mark. There is a sensor in the gas tank, part of the float assembly.

At what point the light comes on varies from car to car. Since you know the point when you need 16 gallons, drive an additional 20-30 miles or so and see if the light comes on.

If the light truly doesn't work, it could be either the gauge or the sensor. You can test the light by removing the rear seat bottom cushion and the access cover to the fuel tank. Unplug the 4 wire connector and jumper the red/black stripe wire to ground and the light in the gauge will come on if it is good. Of course the ignition switch has to be in the ON position for this.

 

honestly i never go below a quarter tank, too much risk put into it.. for example i get stuck in traffic and the gas station is 20 mins away... im screwed and in panic mode.

 

The gas light is on the left side of your gauge cluster where all the warning lights come on.

 

More than likely, the gas light no longer works. It would have triggered by now. Out of all my Maximas, the gas light only works in one of them.

See my thread below
https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...-come-you.html

 

who needs a gas light telling you ur super low on gas? just go by what the needle tells you. lol

 

Agreed. I would never rely on it. I just like everything to work as it should. Even when it does work, it comes on way too late IMO. It should come on at the 1/16th mark, not once you hit the bar or are below it.

 

My I30's previous owner installed an aftermarket fuel pump. Consequently, I've never seen the gauge on that car work correctly. It starts running out of fuel just below the 1/4 tank mark.

 

You can calibrate the float level. It is in the fsm.

 

Nice! Learn something new everyday.

 

+1 - Thanks Dennis

 

Just be careful that you don't break off the little plastic holding arms for the resistor board mechanism. They could be brittle.

In the photo below, near the bottom edge, you can see a little bow tie shaped arm that is in an 11 to 5 o'clock position. This is what you move for adjusting. Pressing on the top edge of that arm is a flat resistor that is what gives you the gas gauge reading. A plastic arm on the top of that resistor board supplies the pressure.

 

Thanks. I'm kind of like that guy that wants to see how many miles for the whole tank. Like at least 18 gallons then fill up at .5 left in tank.

 

depends on your foot, lead or non-leaded