Fuel gauge issues

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rlh2005
Posts: 91
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:20 pm
Location: Fredericksburg, VA

Fuel gauge issues

Postby rlh2005 » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:23 am

Anyone experiencing problems with their Pathy's fuel gauge? I ran out of gas today yet the gauge said I had 1/4 tank. To make matters worse, this happened on kinda bad curve on busy, two-lane, tree-lined, shoulder-less road. I got lucky and had just enough momentum to make it into a driveway on the opposite side of the road. I literally had 2-3 inches between the white strip and my ball hitch.

The Pathy has roughly 4000 miles; 3700 of which are mine. I've noticed some inconsistencies between the DTE and the fuel gauge. The first time, I chalked it up to it being a highway trip while all previous driving was a suburban commute or errands. However, I was starting to get more worried each time the DTE showed less than 50 and the fuel gauge show 1/4.

To be honest, I don't remember seeing the gauge go under 1/4 even right before dropping 18-19 gallons into the tank. My average fill-up is 15.3 gal with the highest being 20.868 (chocked).

Anyway, the Pathy is going to the dealer for it's first oil change in the next few days. I'll have them look at or replace the the gauge (hopefully under warranty). I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

Thanks.


fernando
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Joined: Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:47 pm

Postby fernando » Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:29 pm

i did have some type of problem too , what happen to me was that i fill up the tank but the fuel gauge stay right where is was (1/2) tank , it took the gauge about 10 minutes to show full , my has never been less than 1/2 tank i took to the dealer and becouse it was showing full they say that they can do nothing about it and that if it happen againg just to take and that they wiil take care of it so i guess it is cover under warranty but it only happen taht one time and never again i only have 2,200 milles on it

rlh2005
Posts: 91
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:20 pm
Location: Fredericksburg, VA

Postby rlh2005 » Thu Oct 26, 2006 3:55 am

My Pathfinder went in for her first oil change (4269 miles) yesterday. They found the problem to be the "sending unit". I'm guessing they mean the fuel level sensor after looking at the service manual. It will be replaced under warranty. The replacement part had to be ordered so it will be a few days before the Pathy is fully healthy but she did come home with me last night.

rlh2005
Posts: 91
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:20 pm
Location: Fredericksburg, VA

It's back.

Postby rlh2005 » Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:48 pm

Resurrecting an old thread.

Over the last few weeks, my erratic fuel gauge has returned.

I was parked right front, nose down on my old house's (now rental unit) driveway while loading up junk, tools, etc. The fuel gauge was under 1/4 tank when I arrived at the rental. When I started the truck, the check engine light came on. I checked the obvious stuff and figured it was an evaporative recovery error code caused by false fuel level from the odd parking and driveway incline.

I drove a few miles and stopped to fill up the tank. The fuel gauge stayed at slightly above 1/4 tank. It move to slightly under 1/2 tank over the 16 mile drive home. Sometime over the next 24 hours, the gauge seemed to start reporting correctly again and the check engine light went away after a few cold start -- confirming my evap recovery hunch.

Fast forward a few days and I need gas as the gauge was around 1/8 of a tank. Again, the needle didn't move. I immediately turned the Pathy back off and let it sit for a minute. When I restarted the engine, the gas gauge immediately dropped below E and the check engine light came on. It stayed below E for the same 16 mile drive home. When I went out later that afternoon, the gauge started moving up and finally reported the tank to be full (minus ~20 mile drive). The check engine light when out after a few more cold starts.

So, I took her to the dealer for an oil change today and to check this problem. They found the fuel level sending unit to be defective and needing replacement. The price quote was around $430 for parts and labor since my Pathy is beyond basic 3yr/36000mi warranty that covers the sending unit.

Questions:
1.) Anyone having fuel gauge issues? It seems strange that I'd have two fail in roughly 45,000 miles. I'm going to call Nissan to see if they might give me some love.

2.) Any feeling on whether this is a fix that I could do? I've changed oil, spark plugs, water pumps, power steering, and similar stuff on old vehicles in the past.

Tillyboat
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Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:29 pm
Location: Canada

Postby Tillyboat » Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:54 pm

Good luck with that "give me some love."

I had just gone over the basic warranty range and my steering linkage broke. I don't know how it happened, cause my powersteering fluid was full and everything seemed okay. Just one day, it was hard to turn the wheel, then there were some squeaks then that's how it remained.

I took it to the stealership and they told me it was gonna be around 900.00 to 1000.00 total. I blew up at them, asking what kind of b.s. it was that something would happen right after warranty expires. I had them do the repair anyways and they ended up giving me a really really low price. The job ended up costing only around 500.00. The parts guys said that he spoke with the manager who said he could charge me the price they pay for the parts, which made a huge difference. They said that if this was something that happened on a regular basis, they Nissan would have probably covered it. But they checked with Nissan and they didn't allow it to be covered.

Maybe you should go in there and give them some s**t!!!! LOL. As far as number two, I don't know.

Have a good day y'all...

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myriad46
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Postby myriad46 » Wed Feb 18, 2009 8:18 am

I had a lot of fuel gauge issues with my 2004 Sentra that I just traded in for a pathfinder. I would fill up and the gauge would not go all the way up.

I finally tracked the problem back to not taking the key out when I filled up. Most of the time, I would turn the key off but leave it in the ignition while I fueled. Once I made a point of taking the key all the way out every time, the problems stopped. Not sure what that means, but it worked.

Hope it helps.

rlh2005
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Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:20 pm
Location: Fredericksburg, VA

Postby rlh2005 » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:20 pm

Hmmm, I almost always take the key out. I'm a slight security freak that way; I lock the doors in my driveway.

Looking at Courtesy Nissan's parts site, the "PUMP COMPL - FUEL" assembly is $276. Unfortunately, it's an all-in-one unit with the pump, fuel level sensor, sending unit, etc. So, my local dealership's price quote isn't crazy.

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blink32
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Re: It's back.

Postby blink32 » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:10 pm

rlh2005 wrote: Questions:
1.) Anyone having fuel gauge issues? It seems strange that I'd have two fail in roughly 45,000 miles. I'm going to call Nissan to see if they might give me some love.

2.) Any feeling on whether this is a fix that I could do? I've changed oil, spark plugs, water pumps, power steering, and similar stuff on old vehicles in the past.
1.) no issues so can't help you on that but I've seen an amount of complaints on ALL models of Nissans regarding the fuel sensors than I would consider abnormal. In my opinion they are definitely having parts quality issues there.

2.) Doesn't look to be difficult to do at all. Download the FL section of the 06 pathy manual and start at page 6. Essentially you are opening the gas cap, running the engine with the fuel pump fuse pulled to purge pressure from all the lines, disconnecting the rear drive shaft, pulling a wheel, and then disconnecting the fuel lines and lowering down the gas tank. The less fuel in it the easier. If you can't download the FL pdf let me know and I can e-mail it to you. It's only 324kb.

jens
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Location: Iceland

Postby jens » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:28 am

I had a fuel gauge issues with my 2005 PF, I have 2x ran out of gas and the gauge said I had 1/4 tank.

abomb1
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:07 am
Location: WI

Postby abomb1 » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:51 am

I continue to have fuel sending unit issues anytime my tank gets below 1/2 tank. My distance to empty gives up and just puts ------ there instead. Seems like this is a very common problem since there have been others on this site who have posted about it too. I wish they would recall them, since I'm out of warranty too. Good luck with yours, I'll be interested to hear how it goes for you.

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sbs0518
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Location: Lakehurst, NJ

Postby sbs0518 » Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:59 pm

Hi all,

We had our Fuel Level Sensor replaced at the dealership earlier this year after it crapped out on us. Basically the same issue reported at the beginning of this thread. In our case, we would pull into my MIL's driveway which has a downward slope, idle for a few minutes and then shut the vehicle off (with the gauge showing 1/4 tank). When I came back out and started the car, it was below E and telling me I had a mile to go before empty. After a few of these occurances we took it the dealer and they replaced it.

crewcabrob
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Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:08 am
Location: Lincoln Ne

Postby crewcabrob » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:35 am

Hello,

I have had my fuel sending unit replaced 2 times under warrenty for a similar issue as described below. Mine was the fill to the top, and the guage said 3/4 of a tank. When the guage was on empty, it still have about 5 gallons of gas in the tank... of all the things that should be a no brainer in a modern car. You would think after 100 years of petrol engines and fuel tanks, taht a reliable mean of displaying your remaining fuel would be easy.

Good luck, it sounds expensive to fix.

Rob

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Tech
Posts: 395
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:46 pm

fuel sender/MIL

Postby Tech » Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:58 pm

Hey all,
You may get a MIL with P0463 also.
Needs a sender.
Does not need an assembly.
You will need an o-ring.
If you tap off the lock ring yourself, don't make sparks (brass punch).
There IS a special tool for this
You may also run into 2 problems;
- Notching the pump asmb tab when re-installing the lock ring (your guage will still read off, but the MIL will be gone)
- Getting the evap line off when removing the tank
I've done 100's of these (literally), no come-backs yet. I've also done many that were come-backs from other guys.
If you're doing it on your back;
- empty tank
- eyewear
- 3 lines, 3 x 17mm head bolts, lower tank a bit, line and electrical on top, tank down, lock ring, sender and reverse

Facevedo17
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:50 pm
Location: The Ville

Postby Facevedo17 » Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:58 am

thats the problem Im having lol when my fuel tank is full the service engine dissapears , when it drops half way or a little below the SES comes on

speedline
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:28 am
Location: Abbotsford BC Canada

Postby speedline » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:58 pm

I seem to be having this problems as of today. Filled the tank up and it showed the quarter of tank that was there before hand. 5 min later the check engine light came on and the gauge went to E with the empty light on.

Well what to do now. Take to dealer for service I guess.


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