Postby rlh2005 » Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:48 pm
Resurrecting an old thread.
Over the last few weeks, my erratic fuel gauge has returned.
I was parked right front, nose down on my old house's (now rental unit) driveway while loading up junk, tools, etc. The fuel gauge was under 1/4 tank when I arrived at the rental. When I started the truck, the check engine light came on. I checked the obvious stuff and figured it was an evaporative recovery error code caused by false fuel level from the odd parking and driveway incline.
I drove a few miles and stopped to fill up the tank. The fuel gauge stayed at slightly above 1/4 tank. It move to slightly under 1/2 tank over the 16 mile drive home. Sometime over the next 24 hours, the gauge seemed to start reporting correctly again and the check engine light went away after a few cold start -- confirming my evap recovery hunch.
Fast forward a few days and I need gas as the gauge was around 1/8 of a tank. Again, the needle didn't move. I immediately turned the Pathy back off and let it sit for a minute. When I restarted the engine, the gas gauge immediately dropped below E and the check engine light came on. It stayed below E for the same 16 mile drive home. When I went out later that afternoon, the gauge started moving up and finally reported the tank to be full (minus ~20 mile drive). The check engine light when out after a few more cold starts.
So, I took her to the dealer for an oil change today and to check this problem. They found the fuel level sending unit to be defective and needing replacement. The price quote was around $430 for parts and labor since my Pathy is beyond basic 3yr/36000mi warranty that covers the sending unit.
Questions:
1.) Anyone having fuel gauge issues? It seems strange that I'd have two fail in roughly 45,000 miles. I'm going to call Nissan to see if they might give me some love.
2.) Any feeling on whether this is a fix that I could do? I've changed oil, spark plugs, water pumps, power steering, and similar stuff on old vehicles in the past.