Gas Gauge WEIRDNESS !
#271
I think that's intentional and all cars do it. They read empty when there are a few gallons left as a reserve. The G35 has a ~20 gallon tank and reads empty with the fuel light on at about 4-5 gallons remaining. The same happened in a Toyota that I owned, in my wife's BMW, and in my other car as well - it's got a 10g tank and fuel light is on with 2g remaining.
#273
#277
Bumping the fuel gauge threads I used as reference:
I discovered my problem: On the float armature, there is a thin copper bracket/wire that sits behind the armature bracket and it is this copper bracket/wire that makes contact with the "piano board" that reads and sends the fuel level to the gauge. This bracket/wire has a thin copper wire that spools around the armature pivot point before threading through the armature bracket housing to where it is soldered.
My problem was two fold: 1. the copper bracket/wire was bent enough that it wasn't making full contact throughout the entire range of motion. 2. the spool of copper wiring from the bracket/wire was getting bound up on the armature mount housing and prevented the arm from moving. This somehow occurred while I was cleaning the circuit board and put it back into the tank.
So I tinkered with the copper bracket/wire by gently (I MEAN GENTLY!) bending and prying the bracket using fine tools such as picks and miniature need nose pliers until the contact point on the tip of the bracket/wire made strong contact with "piano board" throughout the entire range of motion. I then fiddled with the armature mounting point and bracket, seating, moving and reseating the armature arm mount until I could not feel anything binding up via the copper coil and there was no resistance to the armature arm moving throughout the range of motion.
I put it all back together and turned the car on to immediately see a working gas gauge. This fixed my non-working gauge immediately and fixed my P0463 code.
I discovered my problem: On the float armature, there is a thin copper bracket/wire that sits behind the armature bracket and it is this copper bracket/wire that makes contact with the "piano board" that reads and sends the fuel level to the gauge. This bracket/wire has a thin copper wire that spools around the armature pivot point before threading through the armature bracket housing to where it is soldered.
My problem was two fold: 1. the copper bracket/wire was bent enough that it wasn't making full contact throughout the entire range of motion. 2. the spool of copper wiring from the bracket/wire was getting bound up on the armature mount housing and prevented the arm from moving. This somehow occurred while I was cleaning the circuit board and put it back into the tank.
So I tinkered with the copper bracket/wire by gently (I MEAN GENTLY!) bending and prying the bracket using fine tools such as picks and miniature need nose pliers until the contact point on the tip of the bracket/wire made strong contact with "piano board" throughout the entire range of motion. I then fiddled with the armature mounting point and bracket, seating, moving and reseating the armature arm mount until I could not feel anything binding up via the copper coil and there was no resistance to the armature arm moving throughout the range of motion.
I put it all back together and turned the car on to immediately see a working gas gauge. This fixed my non-working gauge immediately and fixed my P0463 code.
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