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-   -   Fuel Gauge Not Lighting All The Way UP (http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-warranty-scheduled-maintenance-servicing-repairs/26917-fuel-gauge-not-lighting-all-way-up.html)

LakeShow 03-20-2012 09:03 PM

Honestly the fuel gauge is so incorrect.

XxBLiNdxX 03-21-2012 10:02 AM

Took me 4 trips to the service department to get this fixed. It may seem ok but the fuel gauge is very inaccurate until it is fixed. I now have a problem since it is fixed filling up my car. The gas pump shuts off after half a gallon and it's a pain in the *** filling up my tank now. Thanks Nissan.

Hi-Step'n370Z 03-22-2012 06:41 AM

May I make a suggestion regarding the subject of the fuel gauge; because of it's potential unreliability, at one of your fill up's, record the mileage on the odometer, then when you need to fill up again, make a note of the miles you got from that tank of gas, write it down, and keep it in the glove compartment. I have not really had a problem with my fuel gauge, but it did blip a couple of times, then re-set itself and works fine 99 9/10 of the time. But because of that, and of it's reputation, I decided to get a good idea of how far a tank of gas will take me, jot it down and keep in in the glove compartment, just in case the gauge malfunctioned in the future, I'd have a idea of when I was near running out of gas.

Also, see how the low fuel warning light works for you too. I don't think the warning light is involved with the "not lighting up" problem, but why chance it. The recorded number would of course only be a close reference, and if you've been driving normally, and the fuel gauge doesn't seem accurate, then you'll be able to avoid running out of gas.

To put it simply, it may be a good idea to become aware of how many miles you'll get from a tank of gas, as an average, and become your own back up gas gauge.

sofaonasock 03-22-2012 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hi-Step'n370Z (Post 1614053)
May I make a suggestion regarding the subject of the fuel gauge; because of it's potential unreliability, at one of your fill up's, record the mileage on the odometer, then when you need to fill up again, make a note of the miles you got from that tank of gas, write it down, and keep it in the glove compartment. I have not really had a problem with my fuel gauge, but it did blip a couple of times, then re-set itself and works fine 99 9/10 of the time. But because of that, and of it's reputation, I decided to get a good idea of how far a tank of gas will take me, jot it down and keep in in the glove compartment, just in case the gauge malfunctioned in the future, I'd have a idea of when I was near running out of gas.

Also, see how the low fuel warning light works for you too. I don't think the warning light is involved with the "not lighting up" problem, but why chance it. The recorded number would of course only be a close reference, and if you've been driving normally, and the fuel gauge doesn't seem accurate, then you'll be able to avoid running out of gas.

To put it simply, it may be a good idea to become aware of how many miles you'll get from a tank of gas, as an average, and become your own back up gas gauge.

~360 miles! :)

slo 03-22-2012 08:38 PM

Well after owning the car for under 3 weeks and about 5 fill ups, the fuel gauge miraculously lit up all the way. go figure...

Next fillup same thing, all lights do light up....

Cmike2780 04-03-2012 01:15 PM

@xdeslitx

Dammit! FML. You were right. Filled up this morning and first light didn't light up. This is soo annoying.

Cmike2780 04-10-2012 12:16 PM

Travelled over 100 miles and the gauge doesn't go down at all...stuck on one dot less than full and the range keeps going higher instead of lower. Thank god I reset the trip meter when I filled up. Looks like another trip to the dealer.

Hi-Step'n370Z 04-11-2012 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cmike2780 (Post 1651068)
Travelled over 100 miles and the gauge doesn't go down at all...stuck on one dot less than full and the range keeps going higher instead of lower. Thank god I reset the trip meter when I filled up. Looks like another trip to the dealer.

Look on the bright side. Now that the weather is warming up we can go back to the Roadster top tear issues. That should help to take out minds off the gas gauge issue for a while.

Cmike2780 05-05-2012 04:22 PM

They insisted it was the cluster and not the fuel sender. They replaced the cluster and it all lights up so far...it's only been a couple of hours though. We'll see....

jikhead 05-08-2012 07:34 PM

Mine has been showing signs of issues these last few weeks/last 3-4 fills up. When I fill up, there is always 1-2 lights not lighting up to indicate a full tank. I also encountered this weekend it saying 1/2 a tank on Saturday, then 1/4 tank on Sunday...after only driving 5 miles. I topped it off at work today to double-check, and same thing. So I took it in at lunch. They didn't want to take my word for it and said I have to bring it back when fuel light is on, and they want to go fill the tank up. My gauge clearly had one light not lit up and I only drove about 10 miles from work to their dealership.

Is there any service bulletin on this?

LakeShow 05-09-2012 02:02 AM

Maybe it's a 09 issue?

Augustus 05-29-2012 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cmike2780 (Post 1651068)
Travelled over 100 miles and the gauge doesn't go down at all...stuck on one dot less than full and the range keeps going higher instead of lower. Thank god I reset the trip meter when I filled up. Looks like another trip to the dealer.

My gauge started doing this same thing this weekend. 6k miles on the car, July '11 build MY2011.

Was out of town and down to about a quarter tank, filled up. Got in and immediately noticed the last dot wasn't lit. I'd seen this thread before and thought, "oh $#I*". Then I drove home, ~140 miles. The fuel gauge never changed! Just filled it up again at a local pump, and it took about 5 gallons. Really topped it off. Gauge is still at one dot below full. The gauge has seemed quite accurate over the past 6K miles.

Is it temperature related? This weekend is the first weekend where I've owned the car in actually hot weather, 95+ degrees.

Is the "stuck" gauge the same cause as the "won't-read-full" problem?

Looks like I'm in for my first Nissan 370Z service. :ugh2:

rudi 05-29-2012 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Augustus (Post 1743358)
My gauge started doing this same thing this weekend. 6k miles on the car, July '11 build MY2011.

Was out of town and down to about a quarter tank, filled up. Got in and immediately noticed the last dot wasn't lit. I'd seen this thread before and thought, "oh $#I*". Then I drove home, ~140 miles. The fuel gauge never changed! Just filled it up again at a local pump, and it took about 5 gallons. Really topped it off. Gauge is still at one dot below full. The gauge has seemed quite accurate over the past 6K miles.

Is it temperature related? This weekend is the first weekend where I've owned the car in actually hot weather, 95+ degrees.

Is the "stuck" gauge the same cause as the "won't-read-full" problem?

Looks like I'm in for my first Nissan 370Z service. :ugh2:

Don't let them pull your dash apart, its the sender unit. Mine was replaced and it's been good since.

jikhead 05-30-2012 09:27 AM

I've been fighting Nissan USA and a dealer for weeks now on this, and have had nothing but resistance. The service advisor has straight up lied to the customer support rep about what she visually saw, and completely denied anything was wrong with my car. I've gone around in circles with the service advisor, the mechanic, the service manager, and the customer support lady at Nissan USA. What it has all boiled down to, is that no one is willing or wanting to make a judgement call/management decision to have my fuel sender unit replaced.

I have now taken it to the dealer across town and they are going to replace it. My current problem is whether Nissan USA is going to pick up the tab on everything or at least the labor; as I told them from the beginning that I was willing to pay for the parts but that I refused to pay for the labor charges as the problem started within my warranty. They have been pushing me further and further out of warranty by not making a decision on the matter.

I even posted photos on their Facebook page visually showing the problems that could not be ignored or denied....only to have them immediately taken down. This whole experience has left a very negative impression upon me about Nissan. I will definitely never return to the one dealer.

Cmike2780 05-30-2012 10:04 AM

Two tanks and the last light still doesn't light up. I knew replacing the cluster wouldn't work, but I had a scratch on my old one anyways. The rep suspected "it's probably not the fuel sender", but it is likely the fuel sender. Nissan should really do a TSB for this. The guage kind of inaccurate until you get this fixed. I was showing 4 dots left, but was about 16 gallons when I filled up (19 gal./16 dots =1.19 gal. per dot; should have been around 14 gallons?). Basically saying that I think there's less fuel in the tank than what the guage is saying. It does seem to effect the bottom range also. I'll see if it's the same on the next fill-up. If others can confirm this?

roy'sz 05-30-2012 12:12 PM

It happens to me also! It also does depend on the levelness of the ground when you are filling up your car. If it isn't flad all the way around then your car will not have all led lights lit up (ie your on a incline with the passenger side higher or the nose is higher than the tail).

Augustus 05-30-2012 12:43 PM

It's a long shot... but perhaps try a bottle of Lucas Fuel Treatment?

I generally do not believe that these "octane boosters" and "fuel treatment" things really do much of anything. But . . .

1) My wife's DD is a 2010 Subaru Outback with about 60K miles. Last Fall, we noticed that the fuel gauge began stopping just below the "F" mark on fill-ups. Sound familiar? The gauge seemed accurate otherwise, so we decided that we'd look into getting it fixed (out of warranty) if it got any worse and would otherwise just sort of ignore it. It irritated me, but it was her DD and she didn't care as much. A month or so later, I was at a local AutoZone (like a PepBoys, etc) and they had this Lucas Fuel Treatment on sale at the checkout counter for like $3. Never used it before but thought, what the hell, right? Couldn't hurt anything. Added it and filled up the Outback. No change. Gauge still below F. Also no change in MPG, idle quality, or any of the other things it says it does, of course. But at the next fill-up, I'll be damned if that fuel gauge didn't go all the way to (and slightly past) the "F" like it used to. It's kept working normally ever since, going on 6+ months now. I'd sort of forgotten about it. This was before I bought my Z, so I didn't know anything about similar problems with Z's. Did the Lucas stuff fix it? I have no idea, but it sure seems like it might have. It was certainly worth $3, anyway.

2)So when I remembered this yesterday, I went out and bought another bottle for the Z (not on sale, $5) last night. Pulled into my garage with an already topped-up gas tank and the last LED not lit. Added the stuff, drove around a few miles. No change, not lit. This morning, to my surprise, all of the LED's are lit, as they should be. Perhaps fixed? Perhaps just coincidence? I know others have experienced intermittent behavior, so I can only assume that it won't stay fixed. But perhaps this stuff does have some sort of lubricating property that "helps" sticky sender units. No idea, I'm not a mechanic or chemical engineer. Time will tell...

Perhaps worth $5 for someone else to try and see if it makes a difference on your Z. Especially for those out of warranty. It couldn't hurt, anyway.

Cmike2780 05-30-2012 01:09 PM

^^ it's been tried. Most likely a coincidence. For me, sometimes it will all light up again, sometimes it doesn't the next time I start the car. Usually though, if it all lights up, it will act normally. The fact is, you can't really trust it to be accurate since there is some sort of malfuction/defect in the actual part.


Quote:

Originally Posted by roy'sz (Post 1744697)
It happens to me also! It also does depend on the levelness of the ground when you are filling up your car. If it isn't flad all the way around then your car will not have all led lights lit up (ie your on a incline with the passenger side higher or the nose is higher than the tail).


Although that has a grain of truth, it isn't true for me. All the gas stations here are relatively flat and I've tried other stations. If this was true, I would have noticed this much sooner. It's the fuel sender. It sits on top of the tank and I think it means having to drop the tank to install. It's time consuming, which is assume why some dealers hesitate to fix it.172 Fuel Tank :: Fuel & Engine Control :: Genuine Nissan Parts :: 370Z Parts (Z34) 2009-2012 :: Nissan Parts, NISMO and Nissan Accessories - Courtesyparts.com

roy'sz 05-30-2012 01:11 PM

oh im not disagreeing with you at all. As a matter of fact, every time I fill up I top off almost a gallon and a half and the final led light is stil not lit. But I just track my mileage out of every tank to find out how much fuel I have onboard :)

Cmike2780 05-30-2012 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roy'sz (Post 1744795)
oh im not disagreeing with you at all. As a matter of fact, every time I fill up I top off almost a gallon and a half and the final led light is stil not lit. But I just track my mileage out of every tank to find out how much fuel I have onboard :)

Yeah, I've been doing the same thing. It's just kind of annoying since I always seem to forget to reset the trip computer.

roy'sz 05-30-2012 01:40 PM

lol yah that suxx

jikhead 05-31-2012 09:20 AM

I tried some Lucas Oil Fuel Treatment two tanks ago. I'm approaching 40k miles, so it was good to add it through the fuel system anyway....but it did not fix the problem. The problem is still the fuel sender and I have the original dealer I bought my car from that is going to replace mine. I still have to work out who's paying for what with Nissan though.

roy'sz 05-31-2012 12:23 PM

It shouldn't cost you anything from your extended warranty :)

rudi 06-01-2012 12:39 AM

I got my sender replaced without question and they seemed to know all about the problem. It was all covered under warranty, no questions asked.

jikhead 06-02-2012 11:05 AM

Got mine replaced yesterday and the dealer picked up the charges in my case. Not quite sure if it's fixed; when I filled up after leaving the dealer, I still had 1 light not lighting up. Once I got to my buddies house, I restarted it and that last light was then lit up.

ukmastermind 06-07-2012 02:01 PM

Fuel Treatments like Techron Etc.. wont do a thing because the problem is in the Elec Sending Unit itself.
if the light goes on and off, its the first syptom of the problem.

6MT 06-08-2012 11:58 AM

It never fails... this thread makes me laugh every time it's brought up.

jikhead 06-08-2012 12:00 PM

I had the low fuel sender unit replaced last Friday. It does appear to have fixed the problem I was getting at low fuel levels. However, I still have the problem with a full tank not lighting up all the way. I think the other sender unit will also need to be change out.

Augustus 06-08-2012 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6MT (Post 1761001)
It never fails... this thread makes me laugh every time it's brought up.

Why?

xdeslitx 06-08-2012 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jikhead (Post 1761007)
I had the low fuel sender unit replaced last Friday. It does appear to have fixed the problem I was getting at low fuel levels. However, I still have the problem with a full tank not lighting up all the way. I think the other sender unit will also need to be change out.

why didnt they change both of them? being lazy?

6MT 06-08-2012 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Augustus (Post 1761013)
Why?

Because people should be concerned about the two bottom lights on the guage. Not the top ones. Besides, most people don't fill their tanks up right to the top. So the result is that those lights don't light.

Dead horse thread.

RandyD 06-08-2012 02:49 PM

meh - as soon as i get to half a tank - i go top it off.. (generally)

Augustus 06-08-2012 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6MT (Post 1761370)
Because people should be concerned about the two bottom lights on the guage. Not the top ones. Besides, most people don't fill their tanks up right to the top. So the result is that those lights don't light.

Dead horse thread.

Fair enough. :tiphat:

But I would counter that so long as the problem continues to arise, even in nearly-new Z's, then it's relevant and worth discussing. :twocents:

Totally agree, there are far bigger problems in life than a flaky fuel gauge. And yes, there is much gnashing of teeth over a fairly trivial problem. But that is, IMHO, the gist of every automotive forum I've ever visited. :bowrofl:

However, in my case the gauge actually appeared to get stuck. I drove 100+ miles with all-but-the-last-dot lit. Had it not 'magically' started working again, I could have eventually run out of gas with the gauge reading "Full-1". I was curious if anyone else has experienced this, as that is a bit more concerning than just a 'won't-hit-F' problem.

I wonder if a Miata fuel gauge would solve the problem . . . :stirthepot: ;)

roy'sz 06-08-2012 03:51 PM

normally when i top off +1 gallon it won't lite up but when i leave work at 12a.m. it is lit. I can go approx 80 miles before it extinguishes depending on how full it was when I left work and if i vary my driving mode. At 120ish is normally when it distinguishes the 2nd led light. But, being that I stuffed the hell out of my car, first light came off at 98.7 and 2nd came off at 150. I sit now at 302.4 with one lite above the half mark.

Augustus 06-08-2012 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roy'sz (Post 1761546)
normally when i top off +1 gallon it won't lite up but when i leave work at 12a.m. it is lit. I can go approx 80 miles before it extinguishes depending on how full it was when I left work and if i vary my driving mode. At 120ish is normally when it distinguishes the 2nd led light. But, being that I stuffed the hell out of my car, first light came off at 98.7 and 2nd came off at 150. I sit now at 302.4 with one lite above the half mark.

Interesting. I don't get 100 miles on the first dot. More like 50. Half a tank for me is about 200 miles on the highway. I just filled up an hour ago with 15.6 gallons; 332 miles on the tank & 3 dots lit. I guess my gauge is calibrated a bit differently. It seems pretty linear, other than this one incident a couple weeks ago.

I've dealt with crazy gauges before... I used to have a Solstice GXP. It's gas gauge would stay pegged on F for the first 200 miles, then drift to three quarters by 250, then half by 275, then at any time thereafter it'd just fall to "E" with nothing in between. Crazy.:rolleyes:

roy'sz 06-09-2012 02:57 AM

no its just that i take about 20min in my garage to fill another 2 gal. I commute 500mi a week and don't feel like gasing up in the middle. Plus im babying the throttle

jikhead 06-10-2012 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xdeslitx (Post 1761188)
why didnt they change both of them? being lazy?

I've have been fighting this issue with one particular dealer and Nissan USA for over a month; and neither would acknowledge any problems with the car. Just getting this second dealer to acknowledge, yes...we see the problem just as you do...was a start. In the end, I the consumer, has been ultimately right the entire time. So as long as the second remaining fuel sender gets replaced, then I will be OK. But to answer your question: I presume they were hoping the problem was isolated with one sender unit and the attempt to keep their costs down on the repair work.

G Fo12ce 06-26-2012 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LakeShow (Post 1711025)
Maybe it's a 09 issue?

Thought I'd come and update after a long while. Mine's a 2010. It's been 4 times since the original post that I've had to take the car back over the last 2years. It will work for a few months then the senders will take a dump again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cmike2780 (Post 1744380)
Two tanks and the last light still doesn't light up. I knew replacing the cluster wouldn't work, but I had a scratch on my old one anyways. The rep suspected "it's probably not the fuel sender", but it is likely the fuel sender. Nissan should really do a TSB for this. The guage kind of inaccurate until you get this fixed. I was showing 4 dots left, but was about 16 gallons when I filled up (19 gal./16 dots =1.19 gal. per dot; should have been around 14 gallons?). Basically saying that I think there's less fuel in the tank than what the guage is saying. It does seem to effect the bottom range also. I'll see if it's the same on the next fill-up. If others can confirm this?

This is what happened to mine. They replaced the cluster the first time with no effect, then replaced the senders which fixed the problem temporarily. Like I said about they've failed 3 more times since then 2 years ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6MT (Post 1761370)
Because people should be concerned about the two bottom lights on the guage. Not the top ones. Besides, most people don't fill their tanks up right to the top. So the result is that those lights don't light.

Dead horse thread.

Um, no. After the third time getting the senders replaced mine started to not light up the top light after a fill up. After parking the car and letting things reset the top light would illuminate so I decided to let it ride. Eventually it failed to the point where after the fuel level reached 3/4 the meter would go totally dead. I'd get the low fuel warning and the 30 miles to empty warning. When it would drain down to 1/4 tank the meter would come back.

I got the car back 2 weeks ago and it's working for now. Nissan was involved this time (I called them)and essentially all they did was warranty another set of sending units and test all the pin outs in the harness. I encourage you to call after the second time you have this issue because it stated in the lemon law if you go to arbitration you've had to make contact with the manufacturer in the 3 attempts to fix it. That way you have the steps in place should you decide to go that route. As you might expect I dont feel really confident it's going to stay working after 3 previous sets of senders. As much as I like the car I may consider persuing them buying it back. Also I've asked them to address the hatch not lifting past the latch when you pop it open either (stuck hatch issue). I think it may be worse on the NISMO because the size of the spoiler. That hasn't been resolved either.

Cmike2780 06-26-2012 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G Fo12ce (Post 1792177)
Also I've asked them to address the hatch not lifting past the latch when you pop it open either (stuck hatch issue). I think it may be worse on the NISMO because the size of the spoiler. That hasn't been resolved either.

There's a TSB for it. They need to replace the springs. The new ones are taller.

XwChriswX 06-26-2012 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cmike2780 (Post 1792235)
There's a TSB for it. They need to replace the springs. The new ones are taller.

Was this for the 09's only, or for all year models? Mines a '10 and this only happens if I haven't opened the hatch for a while, or after it's rained and its sticky. I just hit the button again and it releases, so it's more just an annoyance than a real problem to fix...

What would a person need to have with them walking in the door asking to have it fixed?


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