Hi,
My fuel gauge today decided to indicate way higher than full. I had filled the tank the evening before and this morning drove about 70 miles. All indications were normal until I went to make the return trip. I started the car and noticed hat the fuel gauge was now indicating much, much higher than FULL. I shut the engine and ignition off and the gauge indicated about half full. The needle seems to move properly but just indicates way above normal.
What the hell is that about???

 

Disconnect the battery for 30 seconds and then reconnect it. See if that solves the problem. You will need to reset your windows after the battery disconnect.

 

There was a delightful practical joke played on a Hollywood producer many years ago. He went green and bought a VW beetle for the economy.
He was recording the mpg and every day the guys in the studio would add some petrol.
Mileage went from 100 - 150 - 200 mpg.
When he took it in for its first service he told the garage and the guys stopped the petrol.
Mileage went 200 - 30 !
He remained convinced to his dying day that VW had accidentally sent out a revolutionary prototype engine and swapped it at the service.
I suppose petrol's too dear now for someone to be doing that to you.

 

Thanks, guys! The gauge was actually indicating way past the FULL mark, so unfortunately no charming story this time.
I was hoping that I could get an explanation from someone as to how something like that could happen!
The only thing I did that was different from a normal start was I put the roof down right immediately afterward. That's when I noticed the odd indication. Having run the car a few times since then, it seems to be back to normal and showing proper fuel levels.
Cheers!

 

The Fuel Sender is a 2 wire device.

A Open circuit will show "Empty" on the dash gauge.

A Short Circuit will show "Over Full" on the dash gauge.

 

I agree with Paul. Had an old Subar XT6 years ago that occasionally when you turned the wheel the temp gauge would spike then if you reached under the dash and played with the wires would drop back down to normal. Sounds to me like that is what happened with your fuel sender wires.

 

It is also possible for any of the instrument cluster stepper motor controllers to get in an invalid internal state that can cause weird behavior. That is why I recommended a battery disconnect.

 

Thanks again!! I really think that White is on to something. My suspicions of this are based on the fact that I ran the roof down right after the start with, maybe, slightly lower than normal battery voltage so the alternator was trying to power the hydraulic motor and top up the battery at the same time. Also, the fact that it rectified itself slowly over the next few days, as opposed to a simple "Now ya see it, now ya don't" scenario.
I've also been having intermittent "ABS & TRACTION FAIL/STABILITY FAIL" messages following a visit to my friendly local tire place where they did an alignment and tire rotation.
I've cleaned the wheel speed sensors but that didn't do the trick. I wonder if ye olde battery disconnect ploy will work on that too?
By the way, are there any precautions I need to take as far as that goes? I've read that on some cars that, if it isn't done right, this can actually cause other problems. Any advise on that?
Cheers and thanks again!!