Hey everyone. So I got an interesting issue here but I don't think it rises to the level of a fuel pump/sensor replacement YET but soon (yes I am used to that from my S-10 series truck)... Long post because I did some thinking and troubleshooting so please bear with me.
So I drove the car until it had around 4-6 gallons left (around 16 used out of 22 and the tank was completely full when I reset the counters. I forced more gas into it after the auto-stop due to a long range trip). Yes, I know not good but not to the point of fuel starvation. When I went to pull out of my mother's driveway and ended up putting the car in a nose down attitude with a slight roll to the left (where the left front wheel was lower than the rear right by several inches), the fuel gauge did its normal behavior and lowered during a nose down attitude but this time it went all the way to zero and threw the "Low Fuel Level" light and message (I presume because most of the remaining gas moved to the opposite corner of the tank from the sensor). Up to this point the gauge has been fine with minimal erroneous readings. I leveled the car, drove off and it went back up to just under 1/4.
As I drove along for about 9 miles to a gas station, the gauge creeped lower to only the first notch but not into the low level warning. Thinking the car may have lower gas than I thought I stretched the range the best I can by going fast but keeping the RPMs low to keep the fuel flow down. As soon as the car stopped completely it zero'd out but no issues with fuel delivery. It kept running and the pump sounded fine when I cycled the key. I fill the tank (stopped at 16.5, I kept it going to 17) and no change in the gauge. Then when I went to start the engine (I normally push the key, let go and it starts right up), it aborted the start when I let go of the key. I had to hold the key to start. I moved into a space and tried again. Same result. A minute later I get a P0463 code and same result on a hard restart. I clear it and later it came back again. I actually listened to my mother (who knows little about cars but since her theory holds alot of water, pun intended, I decided to check it out) who said maybe the float is stuck from low gas. I tapped the bottom of the tank a bit, no change. I drive off without any problems, hitting some bumps and did some sudden speed changes, nothing. I get it back home and try a start again and it only will start if I hold the key (maybe because the computer thinks I am trying to start it with no gas?). I decide to hit the bottom of the tank with my hand just hard enough to flex it and send waves through the gas. After a few tries I get up and see the gauge went all the way to F and then started creeping down and then back up (averaging out from getting 0...0...0...0...0...90% readings???) to F to stay there (with 1.2 gallons used since fillup). I verify the code didn't set again and I was able to start the engine without issue again. I can no longer reproduce that issue with starting or the zero fuel level. Once again pump sounded the exact same quiet mid-high pitch hum and it was driving just fine as it was even with the code set or pending.
Now, I a fuel additive on the last tank (Royal Purple), maybe this is either a hard spot on the lowest part of the fuel sensor contacts since I rarely run it lower than a quarter, additive getting on the contacts or the float got stuck in an area and showed empty? I am simply not finding an issue now and I am really curious why it hard starts with a zero fuel indication and if it is safe to drive like that. The truck only has 58K on it, not sure the fuel pump needs replacing yet since it has been fine throughout the issue. Thanks
So I drove the car until it had around 4-6 gallons left (around 16 used out of 22 and the tank was completely full when I reset the counters. I forced more gas into it after the auto-stop due to a long range trip). Yes, I know not good but not to the point of fuel starvation. When I went to pull out of my mother's driveway and ended up putting the car in a nose down attitude with a slight roll to the left (where the left front wheel was lower than the rear right by several inches), the fuel gauge did its normal behavior and lowered during a nose down attitude but this time it went all the way to zero and threw the "Low Fuel Level" light and message (I presume because most of the remaining gas moved to the opposite corner of the tank from the sensor). Up to this point the gauge has been fine with minimal erroneous readings. I leveled the car, drove off and it went back up to just under 1/4.
As I drove along for about 9 miles to a gas station, the gauge creeped lower to only the first notch but not into the low level warning. Thinking the car may have lower gas than I thought I stretched the range the best I can by going fast but keeping the RPMs low to keep the fuel flow down. As soon as the car stopped completely it zero'd out but no issues with fuel delivery. It kept running and the pump sounded fine when I cycled the key. I fill the tank (stopped at 16.5, I kept it going to 17) and no change in the gauge. Then when I went to start the engine (I normally push the key, let go and it starts right up), it aborted the start when I let go of the key. I had to hold the key to start. I moved into a space and tried again. Same result. A minute later I get a P0463 code and same result on a hard restart. I clear it and later it came back again. I actually listened to my mother (who knows little about cars but since her theory holds alot of water, pun intended, I decided to check it out) who said maybe the float is stuck from low gas. I tapped the bottom of the tank a bit, no change. I drive off without any problems, hitting some bumps and did some sudden speed changes, nothing. I get it back home and try a start again and it only will start if I hold the key (maybe because the computer thinks I am trying to start it with no gas?). I decide to hit the bottom of the tank with my hand just hard enough to flex it and send waves through the gas. After a few tries I get up and see the gauge went all the way to F and then started creeping down and then back up (averaging out from getting 0...0...0...0...0...90% readings???) to F to stay there (with 1.2 gallons used since fillup). I verify the code didn't set again and I was able to start the engine without issue again. I can no longer reproduce that issue with starting or the zero fuel level. Once again pump sounded the exact same quiet mid-high pitch hum and it was driving just fine as it was even with the code set or pending.
Now, I a fuel additive on the last tank (Royal Purple), maybe this is either a hard spot on the lowest part of the fuel sensor contacts since I rarely run it lower than a quarter, additive getting on the contacts or the float got stuck in an area and showed empty? I am simply not finding an issue now and I am really curious why it hard starts with a zero fuel indication and if it is safe to drive like that. The truck only has 58K on it, not sure the fuel pump needs replacing yet since it has been fine throughout the issue. Thanks
