Re: Gas gauge reading

[steveb@falcon.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

> Suddenly my gas gauge is reading all out of whack (the needle display, 
> not the computer).  When it looks like there's less than a quarter of a 
> tank (needle not yet in the red) the reality seems to be that the tank is 
> dang near empty.  The fuel pump starts making horrible gurgling noises 
> and very soon after the car is ready to die (espec when going up a hill)  
> Refueling stops all this nastiness.  I used to be able to drive the thing 
> right into the red zone.  The computer says I can still travel 80 kms or 
> so.  Is there a way to recalibrate the gauge, or is the gauge shot?
> 
... sure sounds to me that the computer and the gauge are telling you the 
same thing.  I'd think that perhaps the sending unit is bad ... if the 
reading sits at 80km for an exteded period it may simply be sticking.  If 
you're up to it you might want to pull out the sending unit when the 
symptoms occur to see if there is indeed any gas left in the tank.  My 
old Fox (Audi 80) had a screen around the fuel pickup in the bottom of 
the tank.  I replaced it once because I was getting some weird behavior 
near empty; even though I could see no visual problem with the screen it 
cleared up my problem!

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)