Gas Gauge Error

[Crimson Pearl]

Record keeping

I have always kept very good records of every vehicle that I have owned. Each vehicle has had its own record book, which includes documentation of each tank of fuel purchased with the following information, date, mileage, gallons, total purchase and location. This along with the printed receipt.

Additionally, oil changes, tire balance, rotation and any other service is documented.

I started this with my first car, my 1966 GTO, and have continued the practice with all vehicles since. Of course, this information is essential with my "business" vehicle, but also serves one well on any vehicle.

For the last 20 years, this has been my choice of a Auto Record Book :

http://www.ataglance.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product3_10052_10002_131284_-1_false_10052##

This record book also provides a convenient place to keep the registration and your insurance card all together for quick access.

As mentioned earlier, this type of documentation would be essential as part of any effort to establish a claim against a gas station about defective fuel. My concern was always getting fuel that was contaminated with water or even gasoline that had diesel fuel accidentally put into the tanks.

One of these little books always fits in the console or door pocket, and was the first accessory purchased for the XLR!

 

[Lola's Mom]

Crimson Pearl: Just curious, but have you had reason or experience with someone selling you defective fuel?

 

[Crimson Pearl]

Only one "near" incident

It seemed to be more prevalent back when I got my first car. You would occasionally hear about or read in the paper where some station had a problem with water in their gas. Of course, I'm a detail-oriented type of person (an engineer) and good record-keeping just is part of who I am.

When diesels became more popular in the 80's, I had several of them. That just enhanced my concern about "human error" and the possibility of gas in diesel or diesel in the gas! Of course, by that time the habit of keeping record of all this in a good record book was fully ingrained!

I always thought that the preponderance of evidence that one would have with accurate records would be of paramount importance if trying to pursue a claim against a gas station or distributor involving contaminated or defective fuel.

Fortunately, other than a rather poor quality tank of fuel that I purchased in Texas on the way back to Carolina from Arizona in 1983, I have not directly suffered from this problem.

 

[Lola's Mom]

Well, you're right about "human error" ... one very early foggy morning, my very tired son-in-law grabbed the wrong color gas handle and pumped about a gallon of regular gasoline into his diesel truck. About $500 later .... (didn't want to start the engine ... had it towed ... had the gas tank dropped and cleaned) ....

You'd think they would not have the same size spouts for diesel as well as diffent colors ...

Since that time, I have heard more people admit to that same mistake ....

 

[First Robin]

Bad Fuel

When I got the bad fuel it was pretty widespread all along the Gulf Coast. I thought it made National News but maybe not. It was all over the tv stations in Florida and the Gulf States. I have always kept a book in every vehicle I have owned, I write down the date, milage, gallons and dollars. Makes it handy at year end to see how many miles I drove and how much money I spent. I also keep all service records and file them in folders. If I trade a vehicle I put the service records in the glove compartment for the next owner. Now with the dealer being able to call up on a computer the service history I guess what I do is not really important.

 

[Crimson Pearl]

My habit for 38 years!

I can imagine that same type of error has been made by many.

My concern was that the tanker driver "drops" the wrong type of fuel in the tank. There have been several incidents through the years where the kerosene tanks at a few stores were accidentally filled with gasoline and the notice went out via the broadcast media alerting folks to the danger.

My little Auto Record Books make keeping up with maintenance much easier as well!

 

[monepit]

Lolas Mom. I hate to tell you this but that wasn't necessary. I did the same thing in my work truck. I called a mechanic I trust and he said just fill it up and you will never know the difference. He was right. It never even hiccuped.

 

[XLR-V Lover]

If you use a tier one fuel, many are, but many also aren't, you can worry less about fuel additives to clean various inards of your car. If you still want to add stuff probably the best you can add would be Dextron (it is in Chevron gas). The recommended dosage is a 20 oz. bottle (about $12.00) added every third or fourth tankful. It should be added when your are nearly empty. This is probably the same stuff GM sells. It will save much expense down the road and will certainly help performance. Very cheap insurance. I think many, if not most, Vettte owners use this stuff.

 

[XLR-V Lover]

Lolas Mom. I hate to tell you this but that wasn't necessary. I did the same thing in my work truck. I called a mechanic I trust and he said just fill it up and you will never know the difference. He was right. It never even hiccuped.

Monepit is correct. When I was building my house awhile back one of the huge Earth movers wouldn't start one morning. I happened to be there and happened to have a two gallon container of gas I had for my chain saw which I used to drop trees on the property. The guy asked for it and poured it in somewhere on the machine and it started and ran fine.

 

[Crimson Pearl]

$40 a year is cheap!

I've heard simular stories and many years ago when a good friend of mine owned and ran an Amoco Service Station, it was not uncommon for someone to come in and mistakenly start to fill their gas tank with diesel fuel. He would usually be able to catch them in time so that they only got a gallon or two. Usually, they would finish filling the tank with gasoline and other than a little smoke, it would be OK.

But with modern Fuel Injection systems, it would scare me to death to end up with some diesel fuel in my XLR tank! In that I don't drive my XLR very much, I always fill it with name-brand premium fuel (so far BP/Amoco).

But I still figure that $20 every 3000 miles is cheap insurance!

 

[monepit]

I'd have to say if I put a gallon of diesel in gas I would freak. Gas in diesel though is a different thing. diesel is the bottom of the refining process, gas is the top.

 

[Lola's Mom]

More stories .... very interesting reading. My SIL's F-250 is one of those BIG trucks- all kinds of added exhausts, performance kits, lifts, etc .... he has lots of bucks into it - there was no way he was going to start that engine and even take a chance that it would hit his engine .... It did cost him a good penny, but there was so guess work, and his truck is fine. I guess if it was his work truck or a piece of machinery he may have made a different decision. It appears that he did what many of us would do - protect our investment. I still maintain that just like the spouts for different grades of gasoline are mfg'd not to go into a tank, the same should be done with diesel ... we have all said the same thing - we know someone, or have done the same thing .... your thoughts?

 

[lucky_topher]

Well, this just happened to me

It seemed 100% fine then 2 fill-ups ago, it only went as high as 2/3 on the top (and I was almost out of gas because it never went below 1/3!)... At half tank, I added 1 20oz bottle of the Chevron stuff... I'm counting my miles on this tank and will do it at near-zero gas then fill up again... if that doesn't work, one of the GM ones will get tried before I take it to the dealer for that horrible sounding repair

 

[05 GRAND DADDY]

Thanks for all the feedback on the gas gauge I do believe its a sensor because of the amount of gas when refilling back up! Just wondering if the use of Premium gas ( normally just run regular 87 octane at home) and the Seafoam cleaner may of had something to do with it and the one post mention to run more cleaner through to clean the contacts I have a bottle with me????


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks Dan

 

[05 GRAND DADDY]

Thanks for all the feedback on the gas gauge I do believe its a sensor because of the amount of gas when refilling back up! Just wondering if the use of Premium gas ( normally just run regular 87 octane at home) and the Seafoam cleaner may of had something to do with it and the one post mention to run more cleaner through to clean the contacts I have a bottle with me????


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks Dan

Well it's been almost a month since we took our trip to SC and Gas Gauge broke its still stuck at little before a 1/2 tank. I called Route66 my ext. warranty company today and they said it is covered so guess I will send her in and get it checked out! Just hate give her up for a repair now that's getting nice and can driver again!


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[ChicagoDave]

This past weekend, after washing my XLR, I started it, put the top down, then, as I was backing out of my driveway, it stalled. After several attempts to restart, I let it sit for a few hours. Trying it again, I decided to throw in a half can of gas from my mower gas can (thinking it may be vapor-lock or something)... it started right up. I realized then, that I just plain ran out of gas. Unbeknownst to me, my fuel level senor went out. Upon filling up, gauge only goes to 3/4 (took almost 17 1/2 gallons). I just ordered a couple of bottles of Part# 88861013 CLEANER from NEWGMPARTS.com (only $17.50 a bottle, but shipping). I will give that a try before bringing it somewhere to replace the fuel level sensor. I hope I get the gauge back ... if not, I will keep an eye on my miles per tank (I reset TRIP A every fill up).

Bruce and I were just talking about how old my XLR is - at 182,000 miles, Bruce says I have to start thinking of it as an "old" car and be prepared to watch for things like this. Bruce is a WISE MAN of many years of experience! That is one reason I don't do AUTOCROSS anymore.

 

[05 GRAND DADDY]

This past weekend, after washing my XLR, I started it, put the top down, then, as I was backing out of my driveway, it stalled. After several attempts to restart, I let it sit for a few hours. Trying it again, I decided to throw in a half can of gas from my mower gas can (thinking it may be vapor-lock or something)... it started right up. I realized then, that I just plain ran out of gas. Unbeknownst to me, my fuel level senor went out. Upon filling up, gauge only goes to 3/4 (took almost 17 1/2 gallons). I just ordered a couple of bottles of Part# 88861013 CLEANER from NEWGMPARTS.com (only $17.50 a bottle, but shipping). I will give that a try before bringing it somewhere to replace the fuel level sensor. I hope I get the gauge back ... if not, I will keep an eye on my miles per tank (I reset TRIP A every fill up).

Bruce and I were just talking about how old my XLR is - at 182,000 miles, Bruce says I have to start thinking of it as an "old" car and be prepared to watch for things like this. Bruce is a WISE MAN of many years of experience! That is one reason I don't do AUTOCROSS anymore.

Hi Dave
Don't want to bring no bad news to you , But back in March we took our annual trip south to SC. for Anniversary and some where down around the SC line we stop and filled up at this Sonoco Gas Station ( Walk inside to use the bathrooms , they wwas smoking inside the building and it smell like a bar, this place was a real rat trap) ) anyways got back on I95 and 20 minutes down the road it showed only between 1/2 to 3/4 full and it stay there until I left it later on go down under 1/2 a tank now that's where it stayed yet today! Tried different types of cleaner with no luck! I guess it's surely is broke. The Cadillac repair shop told me try the cleaners it maybe dirty contacts, but no luck here . Well good luck they said about around a 2+ grand repair. They would need to drop the whole rear end out to get to the double gas tanks to fix it! Sure am glad the the aftermarket warranty is still good on Roxy!!!

 

[RTR XLR]

I am faced with the same problem as Ken. Did anyone have success using the fuel treatments? I really don't want to have my car torn apart.

 

[05 GRAND DADDY]

RTR XLR
I tried several tanks in hope of a fix since back in March when it broke with no luck!
Don't know if your is the same problem??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks Dan

 

[RTR XLR]

RTR XLR
I tried several tanks in hope of a fix since back in March when it broke with no luck!
Don't know if your is the same problem??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks Dan

My gauge has hovered around 2/3rd's of a tank since April. I was hoping that these Tectron treatments might work. My gauge does move down to about 1/4 tank when empty.