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Car Forum / Honda Cars / August 200894 Accord - Fuel gauge suddenly reads below empty, but light not on
In the space of driving about 10 miles, my fuel gauge on my 94 Accord went from about 1/8 full to below empty. However, the low-fuel warning light next to the gauge has not turned on, and I know from the trip odometer that there's plenty of gas in the tank. Are the gauge and the warning light driven by the same sending unit circuit, or are they separate? It seems to me if they are the same, than there's a problem with the gauge itself in the instrument panel, but if they're different, then the problem may be with the sending unit that drives the gauge, or perhaps somewhere in between. Can someone describe, or point me to a wiring diagram of, the relevant circuits? Is the sending unit just a variable resistor between +12VDC and ground? What about the gauge - what is it measuring? Also, is there access to the sending unit without having to drop the tank? Is replacement something a normal but very handy human can do? > In the space of driving about 10 miles, my fuel gauge on my 94 > Accord went from about 1/8 full to below empty. However, the > low-fuel warning light next to the gauge has not turned on, and I > know from the trip odometer that there's plenty of gas in the tank. you don't know that from the odometer at all. fuel gauges don't have a linear sweep - it accelerates as the tank empties to encourage you to re-fill. go to the gas station, fill the tank to the top and note the quantity of gas the tank takes. then look in the owner manual for the tank capacity and compare that to what you just filled. that will give you a read on whether the gauge is working. > Are the gauge and the warning light driven by the same sending unit > circuit, or are they separate? It seems to me if they are the same, [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > tank? Is replacement something a normal but very handy human can > do? jim beam says... >> In the space of driving about 10 miles, my fuel gauge >> on my 94 Accord went from about 1/8 full to below >> empty. However, the low-fuel warning light next to the >> gauge has not turned on, and I know from the trip >> odometer that there's plenty of gas in the tank. > you don't know that from the odometer at all. fuel > gauges don't have a linear sweep - it accelerates as the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > filled. that will give you a read on whether the gauge > is working. Well, I've been driving the car for 14 years, and have a pretty good idea how many miles I get per tank. I reset the trip odometer at each refill, and usually base the refill point on the miles driven unless it's an unusual circumstance such as all-highway driving. I did finally get to the refill point per the odometer, and filled the tank. It took the usual amont of gas, as I expected. Now the fuel gauge shows only 3/4 full instead of full as it usually does. So, something is wrong somewhere. > jim beam says... > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > point on the miles driven unless it's an unusual > circumstance such as all-highway driving. none of which you stated in your original post. and it /still/ doesn't mean that you can rely on your odometer - dropped coolant level will kill gas mileage for instance. > I did finally get to the refill point per the odometer, and > filled the tank. It took the usual amont of gas, as I > expected. Now the fuel gauge shows only 3/4 full instead > of full as it usually does. So, something is wrong > somewhere. so check the sender unit. >jim beam says... > [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >of full as it usually does. So, something is wrong >somewhere. If you gauge is not going to full when you fill up your tank then you have a bad fuel sending unit. I too had the same problem on my 95 Accord and the light never worked either. Once I replaced my fuel sending unit, both issues went away and the light now works. You could also have a burned out light but regardless if your meter isn't reading to Full any longer, that is an indication that the FSU is bad. nick@nowhere.com says... > If you gauge is not going to full when you fill up your > tank then you have a bad fuel sending unit. I too had > the same problem on my 95 Accord and the light never > worked either. Once I replaced my fuel sending unit, > both issues went away and the light now works. > You could also have a burned out light but regardless if > your meter isn't reading to Full any longer, that is an > indication that the FSU is bad. Ok, so let me ask again if anyone remembers for this series of Accords where the access to the sending unit is. I don't see anything in the trunk. Is it under the rear seat? If so, how do you get the seat out? Peabody <waybackNO784SPAM44@yahoo.com> wrote in news:ju6qk.27532$1N1.23362 @newsfe07.iad: > nick@nowhere.com says... > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > see anything in the trunk. Is it under the rear seat? If > so, how do you get the seat out? You have to remove the two rear seatbacks, then the spare tire cover, then the mid-floor cover. There's an access panel under that. Removing the rear seatbacks is a Chinese puzzle. You're best to get a Helms shop manual, otherwise you'll damage something getting it all apart.  SignatureTegger The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ www.tegger.com/hondafaq/ >Peabody <waybackNO784SPAM44@yahoo.com> wrote in news:ju6qk.27532$1N1.23362 >@newsfe07.iad: [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >Removing the rear seatbacks is a Chinese puzzle. You're best to get a Helms >shop manual, otherwise you'll damage something getting it all apart. In this model Accord, it isn't under the seat. If you fold down the rear seat it should behind it. I didn't need to remove anything to access it in this generation Accord. Probably a bad sender unit in the tank. Older ones suffer from sulfur corrosion badly. Took Honda a while to get them right. > > In the space of driving about 10 miles, my fuel gauge on my 94 > > Accord went from about 1/8 full to below empty. However, the > > low-fuel warning light next to the gauge has not turned on, and I > > know from the trip odometer that there's plenty of gas in the tank. |
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