Fuel Gauge Affected by Hard Cornering

Khyron

Member
Oct 20, 2006
68
0
6
Lincoln, NE
When I'm at the track, really hard cornering will cause my fuel gauge to read almost empty. For example, I can be going down a straight-away and it will read "240 Miles to Empty". Then, when I throw the car into a corner (and I corner VERY hard) it will cause the needle fuel gauge to go down to empty and the display will read something like "3 Miles to Empty". Obviously, the hard cornering is causing the gas in the tank to slam from one side to the other.

Turning the car off/on again will reset the gauge and display. I have already had TSB 06-10-13 performed on my car, which replaces the fuel sending units. Has anyone else experienced this issue? What else would be causing the car to do this? Is there some sort of a "float" that is getting stuck with hard cornering? I'm at a loss.

Thanks in advance.. ;)
 
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I haven't experienced this issue on my Mustang, but I have experienced a similar issue on my Ford Explorer. We were having issues where the gauges were not going to full after the tank was filled, which caused the on-board computer to state strange things. I contacted my Dealer and he told me that the sensors in the tank can get sulfured-up and cause these mis-readings (this info came from a Ford TSB). Anyway, their suggestion was to add some Chevron Techron "Concentrate Plus" Fuel System Cleaner into the gas tank. Apparently this stuff works good at de-sulfurizing (is that a real word?) the contacts. Anway, we did this and everything went back to normal. Periodically (4 times per year) I'll add some of this to a tank of gas, just as some added insurance of keeping the fuel system clean and allowing the sensors/computers to read properly.
 
+1 I have actually broken the fuel gauge on a track day. It was a tough drive home not knowing how much fuel I had in the tank. It would produce seemingly random numbers that would change every minute or two. One time it said I had 450mi till empty!

Funny fact: I took it to the dealer the next day and they were going to drain the tank to replace the fuel sensor unit (where the rear seat cushion is) and there wasn't a drop to drain. It ran out of gas when they turned it on to test the new part. Then they didn't have any gas on hand to fill the tank up enough to go 1/4 of a block to the gas station leaving me stuck to wait for them to give me a ride to fill up an old gascan. Awesome service for $165.

I wish I could say the problem is fixed but like clockwork around 10minutes into the session the alert will go off and then reset itself over, and over, and over... Maybe it's time to upgrade to a fuel cell but $$$$
 
Happens to me every time I go to the track. I try to keep more the 1/2 a tank and these seems to keep it from doing that. My car is so loud and I'm too preoccupied to notice when that reminder does come on most of the time, though.
 
Did anyone ever get this problem fixed or is it still an issue? I'm having the same problem and now i'm thinking it is build up since my car sat for 6 months while I was deployed. Guess I need to dump some techron in it to see if that helps. Do the parts stores sell it?

I replaced the driver side thinking I did something to the sending unit when I pulled it out to add an extra fuel pump (supercharger added), but now I think it is just gunk build up. One thing I noticed, it seems to only do it on hard right turns which, but I'm not replacing the right one because the dealer only wants to sell the whole part and it's almost $200.
 
Did anyone ever get this problem fixed or is it still an issue? I'm having the same problem and now i'm thinking it is build up since my car sat for 6 months while I was deployed.

Still not fixed for me. However, I coincidentally had the same problem as you after this winter. My car sat for 3 months, and when I first started it up, the fuel gauge needle went to 1/2 tank, however the computer readout said "0 miles to empty." I trusted the needle and went for a drive. While driving, the computer slowly crept up "9 miles to empty".. "36 miles.." "90 miles.." and finally settled around "170 miles to empty".

So who knows what is going on. Definitely seems to be a computer problem OR perhaps some build up causing something to stick. I tried some Techron last season to avail.