Tony'sz

I know this is a old posting, but it seems to be a ongoing problem. I too had the same problems posted here, so when I took my car in to get a 60k service at my local Nissan dealer I mentioned it to them and they looked into this problem and told me they would do a goodwill repair on it and they did and my fuel gauge works. I talked to the mechanic that did the work on my car and he told me that there are two fuel sensors in the tank and one went out, but they replaced both. This was done for free, I just had to ask about this problem, they never heard of this problem at all, but I told them that it is on allot of 350Z forums and they took care of me.

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

Wow, that sounds like the best dealership ever. Isn't our fuel level senor part of the oem fuel pump?

j.arnaldo

...finally, a good stealership...That's got to be one ½ of 1% of the world's dealers! Maybe lower!!!

oman

A little off?

08350z4me

all is good with my 08 =]

j.arnaldo

...all's fine with my '04.5 Touring Coupe. ONLY "repair" has been the driver's side power window motor substitution. Otherwise, like clockwork!

Robert_K

iTrader: (25)

I'm having this issue right now. Looking into swapping out both sending units. Anyone done this yet? How hard is the driver side unit?

jasongME

I just happened upon this thread and realized that I too am having this issue on my 2003 Performance model. When I fill up with gas until the pump stops, the gauge will read just under being full. Then, it seems to drop quite fast as I drive my long hwy drives...faster than I would think. This last time after I filled it, the needle dropped during my hour drive to just under half a tank after some normal hwy driving at a constant speed of 65 MPH. When I got closer to my exit near my apartment, I drove a little more aggressive on the exit ramp. Once I slowed down into my complex, I noticed the gauge started to go back up slightly.

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

Mine's pretty bad, I've just been living with it for a couple years. I just set the trip computer and know that I average about 350-400/tank so I just fill up by at least 330 miles.

Has anyone who has this problem swapped out their fuel pump? a guy at autozone told me that the 350z fuel pump has the piece that tells the ECU how much gas is left attached to it or something. No idea if that is correct or not.

Robert_K

iTrader: (25)

LOL Autozone are not techs. The pump does nothing for how much is left in the tank. The sending unit it what is connected to the float in the tank. Now there might be a program in the PCM that computes how much the pump is pumping and how fast you are driving to adjust the gauge but I don't see any reason to change the pump.

Personally I feel that the sending unit is dirty from the detergents in the fuel and 1) needs a cleaning 2) Needs replacing.

Jes-Z

iTrader: (7)

I've had this issue with my car for almost 6 years now. It's just a quirky thing about my car in particular. I drive it until the gauge tell me --- Miles. I usually get about 300-325 miles out of the tank so if I'm only at 250 and it's telling me I need gas, I usually ignore it until the --- sign pops up.

dfresh713

iTrader: (2)

I believe the Z's have an extremely huge resevoir tank. Mine will start reading (----) and I can get another 100 miles out of it at least. I can fill up on 15-16 gallons on 20 gallon tank. Its better than most cars, the second you hit E you have 2 miles to find a gas station before you run out of gas.

Boogshag

iTrader: (1)

So does anyone know if its the "sending units" or the "bypass valve" or can it be either based on whatever problem youre lucky enough to get?

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

True, but at this point I am asking everyone. I spoke with him about it because I thought my fuel pump went out once went I got an SES light and the car wouldn't start up. Ended up being something else, but I went in there to order one and the guy said the float and fuel filter were all attached to the pump when he pulled up the part #. I'm sure he was full of it, I didnt order the part and got the code checked...

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

Yeah I dont even go to the gas station before --- or 330 miles which ever comes last and I haven't ran out of gas in the last 4 years. Everytime I fill up its usually about 16 gallons meaning I could easily hit 400 miles before running out.

It would make sense that the sending units get dirty or whatever, but I've never had this same inaccuracy problem in any other nissan (owned 4) or any other car period, that I've ever owned. Seems to be 350z specific.

wahooj

Nissan just announced a recall on the fuel sending unit on seemingly every Nissan car but the 350z. My Z started having this problem 2 tanks ago... Maybe the difference is the inaccuracy in the Z tends to underreport fuel, and these others claim there's a 1/4 tank when its really empty? Maybe they will expand the recall to include the Z?

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

I just heard about the recall on the news! It seems only 2008-2010 vehicles are being recalled for the fuel gauge issue.... damn that's annoying.

jasongME

I keep reading all these problem threads, get paranoid, and psych myself into thinking my car has a problem. Apparently I was just parked at too much of an angle.

wahooj

Some of the models in the recall go back to 2005...

markit87

Ive had this problem on my 2004 Z for the last 3 years. At first, I though for some reason the gas station pump was cutting out early because it would say empty but only fill 12-13 gallons. So i decided to just keep filling the tank, I learned that the tank was actually full when I had fuel spill all over my pants. Eventually I learned to reset the Mileage button every time I filled up and the average fuel economy. I would then multiply the avg. fuel economy by the 18 to determine how many miles i could go on that rate. This technique has been great, as I have not run out of fuel and driven on "empty" for 150 miles or so. Just don't forget to reset your mileage in the dash every time, you don't want to be guessing.