I don't know if I have something wrong with my car, like it doesn't read the fuel level correctly. Supposedly my tank hold 11.9 gallons. Yet when the fuel gauge shows 1/4 fuel or less you will see the needle fluctuate when accelerate semi hard, like it may look near empty with 1/4 tank there. Everytime I fill my car up it's about 7-9 gallons I put it in and usually when it's about 8 or maybe a little more my car says it's basically running on empty.

If it is almost a 12 gallon tank, why is it after 7-9 gallons it's showing it's basically empty, especially when I accelerate from a stop. And why does my car take an extra second or two to start when it shows 1/4 tank or less?

thanks

 

well the starting problems could be from a dirty pump sock.

but if you really want to check how much your gas tank holds get a 5gallon gas can and fill it up and then run that sucker dry till the motor cuts out.... put the fuel in and then go fill up and find out how much more fuel you can put in it...

ive been meaning to do it in my car for awhile but never have yet. its good to know how low you can go before that sucker shuts down. my dads old cutless would shut down if the gas needle touched the first sliver of red on the gauge and YES i found that out the hard way lets just say it sucks pushing a car even a short distance. luckly friend had some lawn mower gas that was enough to get me to the closest gas station.LOL

 

would a 1 gallon tank be fine? I mean that's 30 miles of driving, a gas station at nearly every stop light lol

Where is the pump sock and is it easy/cheap to replace or should I take it to a shop?

 

its in the tank. so depending on your civic if ya have to drop the gas tank or just remove the lower back seat and pull the pump out. just be very carefull when removing it to move it around to clear the gas sending unit.

i would do 2 gallons at least. lets face it your pushing it till shes dry so more fuel would be better. so id do at least 2 gallons...

 

so are you talking about the fuel pump instead of "pump sock"? I drive a 2000 civic ex

 

the fuels sock goes onto the tip of the pump inside the gas tank.

 

around how much do you think the fuel pump sock costs? I'm having pretty much the same problem.

I'd also like to know the answer to his question about the fluctuating gas level needle. Around corners the needle's position changes substantially.

 

Its fine if the needle moves around a bit, its the gas sloshing around. But isnt it bad to let your car run dry out of gas? doesnt that mess up the fuel filter?

 

I figured it was partly my gas sloshing around, but the needle really moves around a lot, like if I have 3/4 of a tank before the corner, I may come out of the corner with my needle pointing to 1/2.

 

Yeah all of my cars have done that. It also goes up if the car is slanting forward, and goes down if its slanting backwards