I've had a really strange fuel range problem the past 2 days. I know I was low on gas, dash read 94 miles left for range. I parked on a small angle hill, no steep incline just a slight uphill. When I restarted the car I had a range of 180 miles, almost double!

I knew that wasn't right since I hadn't refueled in over a week. I parked in my flat level garage overnight and in the morning the range was back down to normal, under 90 miles. I got gas yesterday and after fueling I had 205 miles of range. The weirdest oart is before I made it home my range was reading only 84 miles, less then half after going only 5 miles.

I know tthis reading is wrong, fortunately I'm tracking with my odometer so I know how much gas I have left.

My question is what's causing this? At one time the tank is showing double and then the other time showing only half of whats actually in the tank. Has this happened to anyone?

TIA

 

it's from parking on the incline

 

Thanks for the response but it's not that. I've had the probelm for 4 days now and i've only parked on flat surfaces.

It actually fluctuates while I'm driving from 180 miles range roughly down to 80 miles or so. When I brake hard it jumps back up to 180 which is what it should be with the gas thats in the tank. It fluctuates like that constantly.

Anyone have a real idea what is causing this?

 

Also the fuel bar shows less full/more full in propertion to the range miles

 

Not sure if it's comparable, but I had a somewhat similar problem on my old 9-5 Saab a few months ago. The fuel gauge/meter thing in the fuel tank got stuck in a loose "anti-noise"/"anti-slosh" thing (I'm sorry, I'm not very technical) and reported all kinds of fuel levels, among others 3/4 of a tank when I stopped dry. Which was when I discovered something was wrong, not that my wife had been driving very economically.

 

Sounds like what I'm going through.

Is it a big job to open the fuel tank to check?

 

I don't know, I had it towed to the mechanic, and they called me next day to tell me it was just out of fuel.

Can't remember what I paid, but it wasn't free, that's for sure (though it wasn't that bad either).

 

Well now it seems that it has partially crapped out.

It was jumping from 2/3 full (actual) to 1/3 full (false reading) now its only showing 1/3 full which is false, I know its still close to full.

This makes me believe there are 2 sensors, one either side of the tank since tank is shaped up and over the drive axle. So one of the two sensors must be failing and that causes the reading to be fluctuating by a 1/2 tank either way.

Question now is which sensor and how do I fix it. I'm stubborn, I always want to DIY before going to the dealer... its a learning process.

I do know the pump housing is under the rear passenger seat but there is wiring under both the rear passenger and rear driver's seat.

I believe the pump and sender(floater that takes the reading) is a single unit on the rear passenger side and there may be just a sender on the rear driver's side.

Any tips would be great otherwise I'll post if I can fix it without going to the dealer.