most likely your fuel pump or sensor, it's not particularly difficult to fix yourself, you can access it through the trunk but I would suggest taking it to a shop

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one with the "turn car on, lose quarter gas from last time driving then needle slowly goes back up to where its supposed to be"

 

as a nissan service advisor, i usually see fuel sending units being the first fix. had one auto 05 z need a cluster. the pathfinders/xterras/frontiers have the more major problems with the sending units.

 

okay bad news and need help. I did the DIY and fuel will fill all the way up a bit past full which got me very excited, I set my odometer to zero at the last fill up and drove about 340 miles from full to just 1/4 tank left.....the gauge stayed at 1/4 tank for a really long time and had me concerned. I decided to fill it up even though the needle read 1/4 and well before gas light came on because...I figured getting 340 just seemed like a lot of miles in a g. I pump gas and fill up with 19.19 gallons!!!!! which means if had I not pulled over and filled I would I run out somewhere on the road! WTF! Why doesn't my fuel gauge drop below the 1/4 mark now to tell me I'm way low?? HELP!!

 

very glad i found this it just started doing this to me but i can fill up all the way. the sensor must be starting to go bad because the gas gauge is going up and down after driving or cold starting.

 

BUMP!!! ^^ any ideas?

 

take it to a shop, you need a new pump or fuel sending unit or possibly your gauge is ****ed

 

how would the fuel pump have anything to do with gauge reading? definitely not the gauge, because it would work just fine below 1/4 tank mark before I cleaned the sending units and the fuel light would come on and everything, so the only culprit might be the sending units but I checked them a few times over, the conductors make perfect contact with the little metallic plate, I'm worried that if I replace the sending units the problem might be still be there.

 

Is it possible that when you cleaned the sending unit you didn't orient it in the original position? Is it possible that the sending unit is turned 90 or 180 degrees from the original position?

 

No bc the sending unit is attached to a long metal stick that cant be turned at any degree but only lifted

 

just did this DIY, it is awesome.

still mileage leaves a bit to be desired, but the main thing is when on a hill (driveway), your reading is gunna be off. this is made clear by the positioning of the tank/sensor.

 

I figured out what it was.... when you do the passenger side tank with the fuel pump there is a very particular orientation that the hose needs to follow where it follows down the side of the pump then wraps around and away from the floater arm. I had mine wrapped so that it kind of blocked the floater from dropping low, so it would read all the way from full to 1/4 tank, then i guess right at where the 1/4 mark is, the hose would be holding the arm up above the liquid even though the actual level of the fuel was below 1/4 tank, easy fix, worthless headache

 

that's really weird, but thanks for the heads up.

 

Wow, the hardest part is dealing with the fumes. I hate I didn't do this a year and half ago, it drives me crazy because I pay attention to my miles/tank . I cleaned the sensors in the tank and it works like a charm. The whole time I had a 1/4 when it said I was empty and I had a full tank when it said 3/4. I would of felt like an idiot if I paid the dealership to fix this.

Thanks to those that take the time to post DIY

 

I have never had a problem filling my tank. as we all know it happens fairly often. However my guage stays on full for a long time. then within 10-15km it will go through half a tank and be up and down between 1/4 and 3/4 for the rest of the tank never actually going below 1/4. My wife ran the car out of gas and it was showing over 1/4. I have never pulled a sending unit. it just started doing this one day. I would love to fix it but the dealer had no definite answer.