Alright I have a 2002 Z24 and have been having some gas issues the past 6 months or so. I drive my car alot, almost thirty thousand miles a year, and I try my best to refill the tank when it gets slightly below half, but sometime's that's hard. Anyway, my car has developed a little problem. It's likes to run out of gas when there is still plenty of gas in the tank. According to what I've found online, the gas tank holds 14.10 gallons, which a bit more than I thought it held. Anyway, anytime the car runs out of gas it says I have more than a 1/4 tank according to my gauges. While I know the gas gauge can be off somewhat, it leads me to believe it's right because the msot gas I have ever gotten in there is about 8 1/2 gallons. I always let the fuel pump do it's thing before starting the car, but anytime it gets down to that point it won't start. I have to walk to the gas station, fill my little 1 gallon and 4 ounce tank and then walk back and pour it in the car, and then repeat that one more time before the car will even think about starting. And then I'll drive to the gas station and barely fit 6 gallons of gas in the tank. So what do you guys think? Has my gas tank magically shrunk, or is there a problem with the fuel pump or something like that? Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I tried searching for this and found nothing, so if something exists on this already I apologize.
Could be a problem with the fuel pump pickup.
You can't outrun the radio.
mine does the EXACT same thing.. have you ever tried to start it several times when u cant start it?
on my gauge 1/4 = E..lol anything below 1/4 i can barely get the car to go and i have to start it where the front is facing down my driveway.
ive just learned to deal with it and keep it 1/4 but i would think its the fuel pump
i just don't understand why the car thinks there is no gas when there has to be close to six gallons of gas in there. the worst part is if i keep the car on i can keep driving. it's just as soon as the car is turned off below when i've driven more like like 180 miles on a full tank of gas. i used to get like 250 before i had to stop and get gas. granted i never tried to do that because of getting all the nasty crap in the engine. i guess for now it's just fill up once i get to half a tank. the one plus to that is i dont have to spend more than 20 bucks everytime i fill up. lol
If your tank is always above half of a tank and never gets below, its possible to wear out the upper part of the sensor for the fuel level. You're problem however is probably the fuel pump. That's where I'd start.
well looks like i get a little better gas mileage i get to like 320-340 before i hit a quarter and it starts to sputter.. hell maybe my gauge is off but i dont thin kso because ive ran it all the way to E when i first got it
i dont think it's related to that because by my calculations the fuel gauge is actually correct. when i run out, it is usually just above 1/4 of a tank. and when that happens, the absolute most i can stuff in there is 8 or maybe 9 gallons. so if the gas tank is actually 14 gallons, then i shouldn't be out of gas. my first thought was fuel pump so i think i will go with that. im boosting in the next couple of months so i might as well replace it with a better one. see if that solves the problem.
ryan that may possibly be my problem i wonder how hard that unit is to replace it doesnt really say much first half of tank i get like 250-270miles and then about 50 from there to a quarter and im out def. sounds like my problem. Just after i put acetone in my tank too. -go figure lol
anyway ill search on replacing that unit thanx for the link
I have read somewhere about a fuel pickup problem where something has detached and blocks the pickup.
Here is a link on how to change a fuel sender/pump, not sure if it is exactly same as yours
see:-
http://www.airtexproducts.com/technicians/fuelsystems/electric/install/fuelpmpelecgm.html
The fuel sender has a resistance of 0 ohms=EMPTY and 90 ohms =FULL
If you can get to the fuel sender wire,
connecting it to ground/chassis with the ignition on the gauge should read EMPTY.
having it DISCONNECTED the gauge should read FULL (or more)
with a 90 ohm resistor from that sender wire to chassis/ground should read EXACTLY FULL
This is a link to the sender information
http://www.egauges.com/ATM_Tips.asp?TipPage=fuel_level_gauge.htm
This would help you check the gauge accuracy a little.
Hope this helps
Alont
Humm, sounds like the fuel pump has came un-clipped from the pickup tube. The pickup tube goes from the bottom of the fuel pump to the "sock" or screen. The fuel pump inlet is usually pointing down into the sock, maybe the pump is "floating" or the
"sock" / tube has come off. Had that on a Saturn about 5 years ago. Always ran to "E" then one day it quits about 1/3 tank. Messed with it and messed with it, then decided to replace the fuel pump. Took the damn thing out and it had came off the retainer tube and was flopping around in the tank. Replaced it (that was at 110,000 miles) and it worked fine until i got rid of it at 180,000. Hope that helps.
Don
Hmm that's an interesting thought. That might be it because I ran out of gas today. I was able to put just over 7 gallons in the tank. I'll have to check that out, though I am in no hurry to drain the tank and get in there.
Mine does it too. Once I hit about 1/8 left in my tank it will run out of gas. I am hoping it is not my fuel pump, but I think it is.... Im not looking forward to spending 300.00 for a fuel pump.
Tristan wrote:Hmm that's an interesting thought. That might be it because I ran out of gas today. I was able to put just over 7 gallons in the tank. I'll have to check that out, though I am in no hurry to drain the tank and get in there.
how do u figure you put 7 gallons if u ran out? no matter what problem with fuel ect if u ran out u should still be able to put atleast double that. maybe you mean ur gauge went to E?
no, see my problem is a bit different than yours. my car literally runs out of gas with gas still in the tank. that's why this is such a frustrating problem. i dont know if it's the pick up or the fuel pump but for some reason when the car gets just slightly below half a tank it can't start anymore. and no my gauge didn't go to e. reads just below 1/2 a tank. that's why i said earlier that the fuel gauage, by my calculations, is actually pretty accurate. there's just something wrong inside the tank that once i get below 1/2 of gas in the tank the car has problems starting.
that could also be my problem im just assumin theres no fuel in the tank what sux is you probably have to drop the tank either way
i get like 320 miles per 3/4 tank it could be quite possible i still have fuel and its just not picking up i hear alot of people get atleast 400miles a tank
i dunno. i only get about 21 mpg because i do strictly city driving, and whole hell of a lot of it. so at most i would get just shy of 300 miles per tank before i actually ran out of gas. and yeah, i think the tank will have to be dropped, which i'm not looking forward. even if i run the car out of gas, due to my situation i'll still have close to seven frigan gallons in the tank to drain. but like i said before, i'll be boosting in a couple months so the fuel pump will probably need to be replaced anyway, so i'm just going to fill up after about 100 miles until that time comes.
When i fixed our Saturn with the same problem it cost me about $15. I think it was $14.99 for the new sock / screen and $0.10 for a couple of tie wraps to keep the pump from floating around. Also a couple of hours to drain, pull & re install the tank. Fairly easy all in all.
Don
Well something weird happen last nite.. i was just cruising and usually 1/4 it would start to sputter and not run and shortly after just die-- like it ran out of gas
Anyway i was just driving last nite and it never stuttered at 1/4 so i kept going its damn near to E now i dont know what happen i ran out of gas like 4 times with it at 1/4 now it seems to work so i dont know if something was stuck or wut. i ran probably 15 -20 full tanks through it while it still wouldnt go past 1/4. The last thing i did was like 2 weeks ago add seafoam to the gas tank maybe it broke something lose that was blocking "something"..lol
not sure what it could block i dont know much about the fuel system but it has seemed to fix it self
Dropping the tank is fairly easy, draing the gas first as it's HEAVY. Disconnect the battery, un-couple the tubes and take the bolts out of the straps. Support the tank with a shop jack and it will just drop out. The sender/pump is attached by a large "washer" that you can turn with a screwdriver and light taps with a hammer. Get a new "O" ring seal 'cause those may leak when reused. After the washer is turned out, it just pulls out but watch for the float on the sender. The pump should be attached to the sender "rod" with either a plastic clamp or something similar. What happened to mine was the pastic clip broke and the whole thing was just flopping around. I tie-wrapped it to the rod, put a new "O" ring under the washer and it worked fine for years. Cost less than $20 and about 2 hours to do.
Don
