Inaccurate fuel gauge almost leaves me stranded!
 

So I'm on the highway opening her up and right before the tach hits redline the engine just loses power, almost like it hit a rev limiter at about 6.5k rpm. I knew something was up right away so I threw it into neutral and just coasted to the next off-ramp. Right away I looked at my fuel gauge and it's sitting at 2 dots, warning light isn't even going off yet! Couple seconds later the warning light goes on. On my way coasting to the gas station any time I gave it gas it was bogging, even died on me but I was able to start it back up. Then, I look at the gauge once I get closer to the gas station and it's at zero all the sudden! I'm thinking POS gauge, it goes from 2 dots, to dying on me, to zero dots in like a 1 miles span. So I fill her up and bam, runs like normal. I've had some issues earlier in the spring putting gas into the tank, after 1 click-off from the gas pump I usually always turn it back on till the second click to top it off. Earlier in the spring when I tried doing the the gas overflowed outta the tank onto my bumper, after only one extra fill after the fist click! I never had that problem before and it shouldn't do that after one click, I'm thinking maybe this has something to do with the fuel gauge issue. And I was going in a completely straight line with this happened, although I had just come out of a tight on-ramp taking that right turn pretty hard, but I doubt that will cause the infamous gas starve issue on this car since the problem happened right after the corner,and it was a constant issue all the way up to the gas station, right?

once starved it does act fairly funny, I tend to use the fuel gauge on my torque app on my phone as it tells me percentage of fuel left according to ecu vs dots.

Well my guess is there's something wrong with the computer that tells how much gas is left, therefore wouldnt the torque app be showing the same thing as the in car gauge? Can the fuel starve issue happen in a straight after a corner, and would it set the fuel gauge to zero? I'm just trying to find out what's going wrong so I don't run into this problem again.

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havent had an issue with my fuel gauge yet. I was coming home from work friday and had 1 dot left and the remaining distance said -- -- so I was scared as ****, but I managed to sit at 3 4 way traffic lights which felt like an eternity and still made it to a gas station. I dont know if any of this matters, but whenever i put my gascap back on i always click it 2-3 times. Always use the same fuel from the same gas station and randomly put additives in about once a month or so and ive never had issues. But Its been really accurate for me. My 09 I was wary about though..... I would stop the car with 5-6 dots, start it the next day and it would have 4. then get to my destination and it would have 5 again....... so its probably one of those shitty quality part issues with nissan like the CSC, some work, some dont.

Could this have been fuel starvation? I was taking a right hand turn on-ramp pretty hard but it didn't start to die immediately, it started when I almost got to redline right after making the turn.

with only 2 dots and under hard/full acceleration that little fuel cup/bucket can be drained faster than it fills up

Probably a safe bet to never do that under a 1/4 tank of gas so you dont lean out and break something expensive

Yea, that sounds like you had the right hand turn fuel starve problem.

My car will do that on the track if it's below 1/2, go I would also bet thats what it was. I have to fill the car up after every other 25 min session at Sebring or the car does it coming out of turn 17 every time.

that is definitely fuel starvation. the gauge acts up during fuel starvation because the gauge is not made to provide instant feedback. if it had instant feedback, the gauge would be dancing up and down like a light show during the entire drive as fuel sloshes all around. so its not made to react to sudden changes. it displays an average of what the fuel sensors are reading. if the fuel on the passenger side goes empty due to fuel slosh causing fuel starvation, the gauge will go to zero, but not right away since it is "dampened".

Ok my question on fuel starvation, how does it leave some people stranded? If it get starved from fuel its only because for that small period the fuel is sloshed to another side of the tank, but after the fuel moves back shouldnt the car then operate perfectly fine?

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the gas tank is divided into 2 halves, bridged only at the top. once fuel goes to the driver side, the only way to get it back to the passenger side is to either slosh it back with a hard left turn, or wait for the fuel pump module's secondary function of in-tank transfer to slowly pull it back. however, if fuel pressure drops, the module cannot transfer it back because the siphon is powered by fuel pressure.

Does a return system do anything to help the fuel starve issue? Just wondering if the fuel in the return line acts as an additional buffer.

Just take easy right turns when you're down to 2-3 lights.

Sent while driving!

Return systems wont help at all.

A larger fuel pump than the engine needs might aid to some *slightly* measurable amount. This is because a greater return volume and higher bypass fuel pressure can boost the venturi's vacuum a little and speed up the fuel recovery time. This would not do anything to prevent the sloshing away. But it could increase the volume of fuel around the pump before it sloshes and help it collect some more fuel before the next turn. I wouldn't do a pump upgrade looking for any results, but I would try and see if I notice a difference after making a change for other reasons.

My S2E fuel system which optionally has the installer physically remove the factory filter from inside the fuel pump module may help a little by increasing usable displacement inside the open lid surge canister that is integrated into the pump module. Not sure if its measurable either.

So basically we have to go dual pump or not turn right on the track? :confused: