Fuel gauge reads empty but tank is full?

[CrimsonBrian]

Hey guys,
Today while I was driving on the highway, my car all of a sudden dinged at me saying I had no gas (the little orange light went on too). I thought this was odd since I had at least a 1/4 tank last I had checked. I pulled over to the gas station and was only able to put 2 gallons in before gas came pouring out. I continued to run all my errands and drive probably another 20 miles or so without the gas gauge lifting off of empty. It has been really cold here in Boston, might it be possible that the gas that was in the tank froze into some huge ice cube? If I can remember back to my high school chemistry, I though gas froze at a really low temp because it has alcohol or ethenol in it. Is this true? Or is my gauge just totally retarded? When I look at the trip computer, the Range button lists all kinds of different readings from like 400+ miles to four dashes. Any help would be super appreciated! Thanks!

Brian

[theonew]

Most likely your fuel level sender is screwed up. This happened to me last winter but the cause of the failure was even more distressing. In my case somehow a breather line froze and the force of the fuel pump was strong enough to implode the fuel tank, when I looked at the bottom of the fuel tank it had a concave dent running almost the whole width of the tank. The collapsing of the tank was enough to ruin the fuel level sender inside the tank. I urge you to look at the bottom of your fuel tank to see if a similar thing has happened to you.

[CrimsonBrian]

Oh great, I'll take a look at that in the morning. If you dont mind my asking, how much was this to repair?

[shogun]

You can repair the fuel sender. Just visit my website and look for the link to Johan and Sean.
Sometimes cleaning it is enough.

[theonew]

I bought a tank from a salvage yard for $100 plus I had to pay $100 to have it shipped, Fed Ex or UPS won't handle fuel tanks. And I paid an indie mechanic $200 to install it, but honestly if I had to do it again I would just spring for a new tank. The salvage tank I got had some odd problems and was hard to install because the filler neck had been bent, either during shipping or removal. I believe a new tank is around $400.

[CrimsonBrian]

OK, I just went out and looked at my tank and it has totally collapsed. I guess I will be taking it to the mechanic tomorrow, which will be awesomely expensive, I'm sure. Aside from the tank, what else will I need to have replace? Thanks for the help guys!

[theonew]

Sorry, I had a feeling about that. It was really cold when it happened to me last winter. Though it was and still is a mystery to me where the freezing ocurred that caused the problem, I opted to replace the charcoal evaporator canister, which was only about $20, and also got a new fuel filter, just for general maintenance purposes. The salvage tank I got came with the fuel level sender in it, but if you get a new tank you will need to get a new one as I'm sure the one in your tank is toast. I drove my car for a couple of weeks while waiting for the tank to come in, and found that the tank capacity was less than half the original capacity. Be careful and fill up often if you drive it at all like this.

[CrimsonBrian]

I guess as long as I have them down there, I'll replace whatever needs to be done. Is there some way to prevent this? I mean, it happened well after the car had warmed up, although it was probably in the low teens when I was driving it. I am not aching for this to happen a second time!

[theonew]

I wish I had a clear answer for you. I have checked all the lines in the fuel system for blockages but other than that I'm just hoping it was a really rare occurrence.

[theonew]

My mechanic thought it was most likely a problem with the charcoal evaporator canister. Perhaps it was already a bit clogged and had accumulated moisture which froze and that was the reason I changed it. And this winter I have driven the car on some really cold days and it has been fine, knock on burlwood.