Jens07stang

Hi all, Has anyone had anything like this happen to them? This incident is truly bazaar and I'm hoping to get some feedback from anyone who's had anything like this ever happen to them.

Short version:
I filled my tank on my way to work this morning and I'm driving home and I had to hit the breaks as someone barged over into my lane. The next thing I noticed after the quick breaking action that started this incident to unfold was that I had no power - I couldn't accel and I was literally coasting along I looked at my gas guage and it read E totally empty. My husband met me and added some gas. My car not only started right up after adding gas, IT WENT BACK TO READING A FULL TANK!!!

Long version:
I filled my tank on my way to work this morning and the tank went right to full so all seemed well as I drove the last 2 miles in. Next after work, I'm driving home,I noticed the full gas guage reading early on asI started my drive home. I was on the road for a good 1/2 hour in stop and go traffic, then the bazaar tragedy ocurred in a moments notice. I had to hit the breaks as someone barged over into my lane (at the same moment my pocket pc slipped off my lap and on to the floor in the break/gas pedal area -I don't know if there could possibly be any connection, so I'm embarrasingly mentioning this partbecause for a few momentsthis aluminum deck of cards sized itemwas under my pedals and I don't know if it had anything to do with the fact that my pedals stopped working -although I retreivedthe ppcback up off the floorfairly quickly) The next thing I noticed after the quick breaking action that started this incident to unfold was that I had no power - I couldn't accel and I was literally coasting along - on the middle of a bridge in rush hour traffic no less! I looked at my gas guage and it read E totally empty. I thought someone must have messed with my car while in the parking lot and that I had some sort of gas leak.

I became like a frozen deer on this 2 lane bridge, watching in my rear view mirror at all the people trying to get around my car. I called 911. A wonderful police officer, no I mean an angel of anofficer pushed my car by hand off the bridge, pushing it off for a bit,letting it coast, then running back and jumping back in his vehicle,catching it up to mine, stopping it and starting the whole process over and over about a dozen times to get me over the bridge and off the ramp where my husband met me and added some gas.(BTW, the officer was originally going to push my car with his car, but decided not to chance damaging my car, thank God - he was so nice about it too)HERE'S THE KICKER TO THE STORY NOW......My car not only started right up after adding gas, IT WENT BACK TO READING A FULL TANK!!! Is that insane or what? I want to get to the bottom of what truly happened here. I need to know what caused this to happen and make sure it never happens again.

As I said, the officer was so kind, he didn't treat me like a stupid driver - let me tell you I feel like a stupid driver because not only was his life in danger by jumping in and out of his car repeatedly in all that traffic (ok, his lights were flashing so that helped him to be noticed with caution, but it was dusk by now and visibilty was not good). I'm kicking myself because I wish I tried to start the car again sooner.

Of course everyone is baffled but threw a few possible ideas as to what may have ocurred. The officer thinks there may have been water in the gas. My husband thought maybe the gas attendant didn't close the gas cap correctly in the am, so it affected the pressurized system causing the false reading. In any case at that moment in time, my car thought it had no gas.

Thanks for taking the time to read though this post. I'm in need of some serious responses to this issue. Thanks!

Bmr4life

Well. Gas doesn't evaropate that fast. Couple questions.

Are you sure you put in a full tank of gas? Like still have the receipt or remember how much it cost. Just verifying the tank didn't read falsely read full.

If you are sure about that, I can only suspect someone stole your gas.

Jens07stang

I spent over $35 this morning in gas and I do have the receipt. I even showed it to the officer so he'd know I didn't just stupidly let my car run out of gas. At the end, the gas gauge went back to reading the full tank that I do have, and obviously had all along.

mlcrycc

I believe the fuel tank on our cars is like a "saddle" tank, i.e. kinda divided in half. Only thing I can think of, when you swerved, you may have sloshed all the fuel from one side of the tank to the other, away from the fuel pick up....But doesn't really seem likely if the tank was full......dunno......I've heard of it happening on an extremely hard turn......

timothyrw

i don't think it is really thatB-I-Z-A-R-R-E...

you lost power and your fuel guage read E... because you lost power!

itthen restarted and read full. because you had power!

now, why did it lose power in the first place? don't know.

i edited your post down for just the facts:

MikeHawke

that is crazy. there is a fuel shut off switch which will activate in a collisionbut it is hard to set it off AND it would not reset itself so I doubt that was involved.

I can not think of any reason why that would have happened.

Hope it's only a one time thing!!!!

Elsboo

Havn't posted here in a while but read this and thought I should....Same thing happened to my misbehavin.
Thought I was goin nuts...Then she straightend out. Two weeks later and drivin home at nite she losses power bigtime...Dash lites goin nuts and abs and traction control lights coming on...High charge at idle and then the check charging system notice....Rev her up and charge indicator goes to normal but the lights in the dash at the heater controls are going nuts. Shes been in the shop for 4 days and still don't know whats wrong.

Black121

Just based on the symptoms you cited, it sounds to me like you may have possibly shut the car off on accident or caused it to stall (if manual) which caused you to loose power thus resulting in your car behaving accordingly. Just a shot. Don't know how accurate it really is.

P.S. Do that officer a huge favor and express your gratitude in a letter to his chief of police or supervisor (he will truly appreciate it). Coming from a police officer, I can tell you he went well above the call of duty on that one. He could've just blocked the lane and had you call a tow truck.

Jens07stang

I will definately be doing a letter on behalf of the police officer. I got his name, etc. so I could do so.

I drive a stick. If I stalled without realizing it, wouldn't my steering wheel lock up?

wmtheflash

I've had problems filling the tank when I was very low on gas. In fact, once it wouldn't even take gas! I have two theories, they may both be wrong, but I thought I'd take a shot at it...

If I'm right, then you were possibly running on fumes when the "attending" (Do you live in NJ?) added gas. The pump cut off prematurely, the attending thought it was full. I'm not sure why the computer registered the wrong amount, possible a lot when in one hump and not in the other? I'm only suggesting this because adding gas an appreciable amount of gas to a car that's full seems to tell me that the tank wasn't really filled. (I know, I know, it sounds obvious!)

I took mine to the dealer and spoke to the mechanic after I couldn't get it to fill up. There are two fuel pumps and senders for each side of the saddle bag tank. According to him the computer computes the amount of gas in tank by averaging each side. By the way, the tank design is for your protection, it's mounted in front of the axle to protect it in a crash.

Currently, I fill the car when it reaches a 1/4 tank and haven't had anymore problems. These fuel tanks don't do well when run down very low, which is hard on the system, anyway. After all, the gas in the tank cools those fuel pumps.

There is also a TSB for a stalling after a long cruise. I don't remember which models years it impacts. Had you been driving at highway speeds for a while?