GT Rick

About a week ago I was about 25 miles to empty and my fuel gage showed as such. I parked the car for a couple of days. I left my radar detector on and this caused the battery to drain, so I popped the clutch to start the car. When I drove the car next the gage read almost full, but the DTE read 24 miles. I filled up the tank and the gage went to empty and now seems to be working in reverse, meaning I've used about 1/4 of a tank but the gage shows only 1/4 full. It seems to be working in reverse. However the DTE readings seem to be correct. Any ideas what would be causing this? I have disconnected the battery hoping that might reset the computer or something, but no luck. Oh yeah, I also charged the battery and even swapped it out with another, but no change.

drewsky

I had a similar problem with the gas gauge a few years ago. It eventually worked itself out after I filled the tank all the way.

Nuke

I've heard of fuel gauge readings being screwed up if the ignition switch is left on while filling the tank (like the dimwit, brainless, ignorant, inconsiderate azzholes that think it's cool listening to their sound system at the gas station so the entire county can hear it) but not just from draining the battery.

I would wait and see if it settles out as is usually the case from the issues already known with the gauge. Since everything is computer driven, it's not as simple as it used to be such as your buddies pranking you by swapping leads.

tx_zstang

When you disconnected the battery or swapped it, did you wait at least 20 minutes between hooking it up?

Also, one of the floats may be stuck or something.
I'd also recommend waiting and seeing if it works itself out, but being sure to not run out of gas in the meantime!