i have a 2005 f-250 5.4 litre 3V. it normally gets 12 mpg in my driving conditions. recently though my fuel gauge goes from full down a little bit( about an 1/8) then after i start it a few times it goes back up. i just looked at my miles driven and it said 60 but it had a quarter of a tank gone. thats 8.4 mpg!!! is it the float getting stuck in the tank or is it some other problem

 

I have an 03 F250 CC with the 5.4. The fuel gauge does drop faster from Full to 3/4 (smaller portion of tank), but it empties out slower from 3/4 to 1/4. I always refill at 1/4 level to make sure the fuel pump always stays in liquid. One problem I discovered, with the fuel gauge, is never refuel with the iginiton in "accessory" position. I attempted this twice and it realy screws the fuel gauge up. It takes a couple of cycles of the iginition switch begore the gauge returns to normal.

 

The float just isn't very accurate and should not be used for anything but a general gauge reading.

On the wife's Crown VIc, the 1st 1/4 tank takes about 30 miles, then the next takes 150. Not even close to being accurate.

 

thanks guys it just seems weird that always before the gauge was always pretty leveled out in terms of decreasing amount. it caught me by surprise why it did this all of a sudden

 

I totally agree. I only use that fuel gauge as a general fuel level. I always reset the tripmeter when I gas up and go by the mileage driven. I almost never let the tank go beyond a half tank (full or empty however you like to see it) so I just fill up at that point.

 

+1 on the gauge as a guide.

Recently had my '06 F350 5.4L in for service at the dealership. They put about 100 miles on it and gave it back to me within a hair of E. I'm getting about 10 mpg. I drove 1 mile and the low fuel msg came on so I put in 2 gal just to make it to the gas station I normally fill up at and the low fuel msg was still on. It should've gone off, if the amount of fuel I used in 1 mile caused the level in the tank to go low enough to casue the low fuel msg then putting in 2 gallons (more than used in 1 mile) should turn the light off. I put 4 more gallons in and it was still on. Then I noticed the gauge suddenly moved up quite a bit and all is normal now. Probably a sticky float?

I normally don't let my tank get that low and I looked in the owners manual but it doesn't say, does anyone know just how many gallons are left when Low Fuel msg comes on?

 

For my luck, enough to get within a few miles of the nearest station.



Per the manual:

Low fuel: Illuminates when the fuel
level in the fuel tank is at or near
empty (refer to Fuel gauge in this
chapter).

Fuel gauge: Indicates
approximately how much fuel is left
in the fuel tank (when the ignition
is in the ON position). The fuel
gauge may vary slightly when the
vehicle is in motion or on a grade.
Refer to Filling the tank in the
Maintenance and Specifications
chapter for more information.

Filling the tank
The advertised fuel capacity of the fuel tank on your vehicle is equal to the rated refill capacity of the fuel tank as listed in the Refill capacities section of this chapter.

The advertised capacity is the amount of the indicated capacity and the empty reserve combined. Indicated capacity is the difference in the amount of fuel in a full tank and a tank when the fuel gauge indicates
empty. Empty reserve is the small amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank after the fuel gauge indicates empty.

The amount of usable fuel in the empty reserve varies and should not be relied upon to increase driving range. When refueling your vehicle after the fuel gauge indicates empty, you might not be able to refuel the full amount of the advertised capacity of the the fuel tank due to the empty reserve still present in the tank.

Not a bit helpful, is it?

 

Wow, not trying to be nosey, but what the heck were they doing to have to put a hundred miles on it for service!?? That would be the longest road test I have ever heard of.

 

Most analog fuel gages are not linear in measurment with error rates higher on either end of the gage. In modern vehicles, a capacitor leveling circuit is used in conjunction with the float sender to make needle movement slow and not jump around erratic when fuel sloshes around. That is why when you fill up from empty, the gage jumps rather quickly but the last few hash marks toward the full mark can take a few minutes before showing full. While capacitors are solid state electronics, they can fail or degrade causing a erratic needle.

Hootbro

 

Mine on my 02 bounces up and down like a 10 yr old with a jump rope. Ford hooked it up to the computer and as I was handing them my $92 bucks told me everything was fine. Hrmmm... Ford gas guages SUCK!

 

i bought a 99 F-350 Super with a guage that always reads FULL and the guy who had it said he tried everything short of replacing the entire cluster...? Yup, they suck.

 

Thanks for digging that info up! Yeah, says a whole lot of nothing . Unless I'm on a long trip, I'll do my best to fill up at 1/2.

I'm sorry for not being around to reply sooner. It's been a busy few months.. right after I joined at the beginning of the year we found out our company was up for sale and had some serious interested parties. I was tasked with database integrity which was a nightmare. Last week we were sold.

 

I brought the truck in for a few items: the trans would bang and shake the truck when down shifting every now and then, there was a dizzying "drone/hum with minor vibration" from 50-60 MPH and something else which I cannot remember.

Well, they test drove it and could not replicate the tranny bang and said the truck drove normal, no hum/vibration. So I went down there and did a ride along with the tech and pointed out the vibration/hum-drone. "Oh that" he said, that's normal. I informed him it was not, asked him to rotate/balance the wheels.

I followed up when they said to call and the tech that I worked with was out sick. I asked if the truck was ready and they said it was and that a different tech had driven it and didn't find any problems so no work was done on it. What did I just go through??? I explained the situation and was told to call back in two days. I did, asked if the work had been done, they said yes, truck ready. I asked what the tech had found and was told it wasn't written down so when I asked to speak to the tech I was told he was out. Pressing them, they couldn't confirm the work was even done. One more day later and it was finally done.

I'll use that dealership's sales dept but never again will use their service dept. I've since traded the truck in (last week) for an '07 F350 SuperCab PSD Lariat. Not because of those problems. A buddy of mine on my FD is the assistant mgr. Ford rebate, and he used one of his family plan pins for me brought the price down from the 46K and change sticker to 36K before trade-in.