anyone know how to fix a cars gas gauge

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slidecage

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i had to unhook my battery to try to reset the computer since i had a check engine light on and thought resetting the computer would help, but it didnt so when i hooked the computer back up i noticed the gas gauge was messed up and and when i hooked it back up now the gas gauge will read Empty even on a full tank. Any help


car is a 98 olds cutluss ..did some research and some people are saying a power surge when i hooked the battery back up messed up the gas gauge but i dont think that could happen.. i did this on a number of different cars and nothing like this happened before
 
Step One: Park in a small garage

Step Two: Close door behind you

Step Three: Wind down your window

Step Four: Rev engine and wait for nature to take its course
 
[quote name='ajh2298']Step One: Park in a small garage

Step Two: Close door behind you

Step Three: Wind down your window

Step Four: Rev engine and wait for nature to take its course[/QUOTE]
this made me laugh
 
I need to know this too. Mine isn't calibrated. When it gets to 1/4th tank it stops dropping, so it's a mystery how much gas I actually have. When full the needle is way past Full too.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']I need to know this too. Mine isn't calibrated. When it gets to 1/4th tank it stops dropping, so it's a mystery how much gas I actually have. When full the needle is way past Full too.[/QUOTE]

I had that problem on a 99 GMC Jimmy and when the call was near empty it would stop sitting at 1 quarter full and then start bouncing from empty to full over and over when ever I was idling at a light or stop sign. I asked my mechanic once what would fix this and he told me there is a gauge in the gas tank/fuel assembly and I would basically need a new gas tank. Never went through with the repair and ended up doing Cash for Clunkers before Obama cut that off.
 
I missed out on Cash For Clunkers. Went the last day and the salesman didn't want to fill out the paperwork. I shit you not, a car salesman that didn't want to sell a car. Wish they'd do CFC again. Maybe offer the trade-in cars to low income families or something, rather than destroy them and jack up the market value for all the other used cars.
 
The fuel sender unit has ping-pong ball on a stick connected to a potentiometer. Sounds like said potentiometer is bad. You can replace the whole fuel send unit as a single assembly.

In most cars you can access the top of the gas tank and pull out the fuel sender unit(s) by either:

A. Removing the back seat.

B. Removing the bottom of the trunk.
 
The repair is costly and a pain in the ass if you try to do it yourself. just fill it up every 3-4 days.
 
[quote name='5of9']The repair is costly and a pain in the ass if you try to do it yourself. just fill it up every 3-4 days.[/QUOTE]

I agree, working on anything related to the gas tank is just a pain in the nuts. If you have to replace the fuel pump at some point you may want to look into fixing this but I would just be very pro-active in filling up.
 
[quote name='Poor2More']nothing to ad to this topic except Slidcage, you do indeed have the worst luck with vehicles[/QUOTE]


well really didnt have time to check the car out

went down to the lot and they had the car online for 2000... on the lot it was 3600 ... said it was a price mistake and if i paid right there i could get it for 2000 if not the price goes back up to 3600


Should of checked out the car better it seems... I was messing with it today and it needs just looking at the engine

Transmition flush (have to get under the car just to check the fuild no dipstick on these cars)

Coils are rusted so bad you cant even get the plug wires off them (got 2 off didnt take the others off due to fear of breaking.... maybe next week when i have time to change them

if the coils are that bad im guessing the spark plugs are probally shot

159 bucks to replace all of the coils . plugs and wires if i do it myself
110 bucks to flush the transmitiion

so far im 270 into repairs on this freaking car.

What is sort of shocking is how much 3 years makes a difference or my other car had major problems

1995 buick park ave book MPG is like 22 MPG CITY i was getting 12.5 to 13 delivery newspaper
the new car
1998 olds cutluss book MPG is like 20 CITY even with bad plugs,wires,coils getting around 16.5 MPG

was a little shocked on that... I wonder how much more i would get if i did tune it up
 
[quote name='slidecage']well really didnt have time to check the car out

went down to the lot and they had the car online for 2000... on the lot it was 3600 ... said it was a price mistake and if i paid right there i could get it for 2000 if not the price goes back up to 3600
[/QUOTE]

And you fell for that? Slidecage, c'mon man......
 
[quote name='keithp']And you fell for that? Slidecage, c'mon man......[/QUOTE]

no the car was listed for 3588 I seen it on the lot for a few days before i saw it on the net for 2000 i though for 2000 bucks i would risk it (wouldnt risk 3588 on a 98 olds .) the so called manager was pissed about it and started yelling an one of the workers who put the cars up on the net... I guess it was a 1990 car that was to go up for 2000 on the net and the put the wrong price with the wrong picture... the 2000 buck car was some 4 cly. with 229,000 miles on it ... it was a one owner car with a car fax report though it really didnt matter about car fax cause that is just a joke if you ask me

if the only problem is the coils wires and plugs no big deal cause i just wasted the same amount of cash on my 95 buick and its very simple to do them.

paper work even showed they paid 2400 for the car at auction. I walked in and had to go to work so my friend went in and paid the 2000 for it (resold it to me) the car was changed on the net back to 3588 as soon as i left but due to the fact that we had the 2000 price printed out they said they had to honor it... its a nice looking car for 2000...would of never paid 3588 for it


went up to a local shop that was opened and they said Its very common for 98 cutluss to have a power surge when you hook the battery up and it probally fried the chip that controlls the gas gauge.. if i wanted to i can get it checked out next week (sept 5 th or later) for like 20 bucks

cousin said they are calling the lot tomorrow to #$()*)*@# i told them what the hell for they wont do a thing for them since

AS IS is AS IS

i knew one person who got a car checked out for 70 bucks... picked it up.. went down and paid for it and the engine blew up on the way home... Lot said too bad AS IS the place they took it to said TOO BAD cause you never know when an engine is going to blow and they paid like 5900 for that car

still tempted to get a VERSA if i can get one dirt cheap and put this car as a back up or resell it
 
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