Hello everybody, I'm new to this board just signed up now figuring maybe you guys can help me with this (I was meaning to sign up for a few weeks anyways).
The fuel gauge in my 1997 Honda Civic LX doesn't read correctly, I dont think the gauge itself is shot but more so something in the gas tank. I'm pretty much n00b when it comes to cars because untill about a month ago it wasn't relevant to me, and I'm in high school with no job so I'm hoping you guys can offer some instructions or something (pictures maybe?) to fixing this.

Let me know if more info is needed.

 

can you describe the problome more? not reading correctly is kind of vauge. what does it do?

 

Sorry about that, it'll stay static for a bit then it'll start SLOWLY moving around either up or down. Like when I pull out of the driveway it'll read "full" then maybe 5 miles down I'll look at it again and it'll be empty, and a little bit later it'll go up to 3/4th full. There is not set pattern it just moves around, sometimes the light seems to go on that I need to refuel my dad said that that means I should refuel (he had the car before me) even if I can't read how much fuel there is however last time I refueled it wouldn't let me pump up more than 1/4th of a tank. Sorry if any of this is jumbled Im a little tired haha

 

when the fuel gauge on one of our civic's stopped moving at all, the cluster was the problem. so if it is still moving then i would agree that it could be the fuel gauge sensor in the gas tank. remove the rear seats and it should be the cover on the passenger side iirc. or download the service manual and look it up

 

As a simple but somewhat inconclusive test, turn the key on (don't start the engine but make sure it's all the way on, the oil and battery lights on the dash should be lit) and watch the gauge for several minutes with the car sitting still. If it jumps around it's probably the gauge cluster, if the car has to be moving for it to act up it's probably the sender. Also see if you can make the gauge change by hitting the dashboard, if so it should be something loose at the cluster.

The light is a separate system entirely. When the light comes on you should know it really is empty and you need to buy some gas. Was the light on when you tried to fill it and only could add a few gallons?

Also a lot of people use the trip odometer to measure miles since the last fill-up, the number of miles traveled lets you estimate when you will need to fill up again.

 

Just a shot here, but is it possible that your driveway is on a slope? If so, the position of the fuel where the sender reads will be different than when on level ground. Also, during stops/starts the fuel will slosh and can cause the reading to appear erratic. If you gauge is solid on level ground with no curves or other reason for the fuel to be displaced from the sensor then I would venture to say that it is reading correctly.

Ed Fisher
Dallas, Tx

 

No my driveway is flat, and the light comes up briefly and will go away, that particular time I put in $20 worth of gas (for a 12gal tank @ $2.90 a gal I should need $36 to fill up) and the pump stopped at $15 about so something is up. And yes I know how to get to the tank but what do I do about fixing it? How much does a gas sensor cost any trouble shooting I can do to absolutly make sure it is the sensor?

 

Im gonna call up some shops and salvage places looking for a fuel sender tomorrow. Anyone have tutoriol on how to replace it or anything?

 

Hey do I need to get a new pump as well? Also is it possible the floater is just stuck?

 

I also have a problem with my fuel gauge except mine just plain does not work. It sits below the "E" line, and doesn't budge from there at all. I thought that I may have screwed it up when I was messing around with my fuses, while I was attempting to fix my shorted out electric outlet, but today I just looked at all of my fuses, and visually made sure that they were not burnt out. I also noticed that there were empty fuse slots, so I placed a "75" meter in each, while I started the car after each time I placed the "75" in a empty slot, and the meter still did not budge! What should I do? I know that my car has at least a half tank in it right now, as I just put about 5 gallons in, which gets me about 150 miles before I need to Fuel up. Please help! I have learned to cope with this problem but it has gotten very annoying. My wife and I really hate to drive without that meter working!!