Fuel Gauge Nightmare
 

So this story starts out with my new 2017 86 starting to act up whenever I would go to the pump. The first time it happened I filled up with about 10 gallons, and then when I got back in the car it read 3/4 tank, and my ODB read 9.2 gallons. That was odd I thought, and did some reading and saw that it would fix itself next time...

So then after multiple more fill ups and resetting the ECU, I found that this was in fact not going away on its own so I brought it to Toyota.

So I go in for the first appointment and the shop foreman is the only one who can work on the car apparently, so he spends the entire day with it, and then tells me the sender plug was loose and that he fixed it by snugging it down, instantly knew that was B.S. but if it was reading full now then that would be fine.

Nope it read 11.2 instead of the 12.5 and he said, well it must be a separate issue, I called him out on how it would have thrown a code if the sender was unplugged and he convinced me to drive it empty and fill it up again to verify.

Ofcourse it was still broken, so I brought it back in, this time with about 4 gallons at their request so that he could pull the pumps out if need be. He noted that he took both senders out, set the floats to max, and that it sent the 12.5 value to the car. Okay awesome so the senders are good, so must be another problem. Nope he claims its not broken and that it's all set.

I go to pick the car up, and open the door and BAM, the smell of gasoline was horrible. I go in and grab my service advisor and ask him if he would be able to drive this home. He says no way and that recon will fix the issue overnight. Apparently he spilt some gas on top of the tank but then never aired out the car.

So I pick it up this morning and they tell me it smells great and that the gauge is all set. It did smell great I'll give them that. But I went across the street to fill up with 93, and I put in over 10 gallons and it clicked off and guess what, still broken.

So I go back and ask to talk with the service manager who is aware of the situation and he thinks that there's no way the sensors are bad at that it must be the evap system making the fuel hose shut off early. I explain to him the math and how that's not possible but he insists on filling it up with their pump (even though my tank is full).

So he starts filling it up normally and it clicks off at .4 gallons, then again at .5. But he knows it must be an evap problem so he holds it reaalllyyy slowly so it will keep going and guess what happened...

Gas spills all over the side of my car and onto the tire and he says they'll clean it right up, and fix the obvious fuel gauge issue today no matter what.

So just thought I would vent and explain what has happened so far in case anyone else has this issue!

Shitty situation to be in, I would hate to be in your position, but I hope they can get it fixed, but it would seem they either do not know how to work on the car, or do not want to work on the car (since its all warrantied, they probably are not making much money, if anything). Keep at it until you get it fixed, you should be able to enjoy your new car, not suffer because of it.

Ya exactly, and I think it's more they don't know how to work on it, apparently they had techs "down from toyota" yesterday. I think he meant corporate techs? Don't know, but the service manager was super nice and gave me the pick of what rental I wanted, it's a stupid corolla, but at least it reads it's own fuel level ;)

I am having the exact same issue with my 2015 BRZ, took it to the dealer under warranty.

They held it for a day and said removing the battery fixed it. Picked it up, filled it with gas, and took it right back. Took them two more days to tell me it was a loose connection and they fixed it. Again it still wasn't working. Tried to get another service appointment and they told me I had to wait a week because of problems in their service department.

So I took it to another dealer and told them the whole story. They have had it for almost a week now. Hopefully this is resolved soon, I don't understand why this issue is so hard to fix.

Because they don't want to fork over the money to replace the pump. The tech moved the floats manually to the top and the bottom to verify it was then sending the right resistance to the computer. So that tells me that all the electronics are working, and that there is something wrong with the floats.

They just called me to tell me they thought it might be my after market radio, so I went down, asked for a 10mm, went out back removed it in about 45 seconds, turned the key and said, oh hey look, it's almost like they're two completely different systems.

I told them what they needed to do and they just said they'd work on it. They need to measure the resistance of the reading on both pumps with them still in the tank to see which sender isn't thinking it's full and then just replace the damn thing.

I had a similar issue with my 2014. It took 3 trips to the dealer and me running it out of gas a 1/4 tank for them to admit there was a problem. First I was told not to have the key in the vehicle, then to not have the key with me when I fill it.:bonk:

If the evap system wasn't fucked before, it is now

I just did some reading and now I'm terrified. Would this have destroyed the charcoal filter? Should I ask them to replace it? I know they'll say no, so who can I get involved in this? Is there a corporate Toyota number I can open up a case with now?

This is horrible and now I'm terrified.

Don't panic. Guy loves to jump to the worst possible scenario and skip all the simple things it could be. If you read through enough you will see there are several basic things it could be and they are by far the more common issues. Because one or two people had big issues doesn't bean you will as well. They will get you sorted out.

Lol thanks Tcoat, I'm really hoping they do, they don't really seem to know too much about the car though based on them saying my aftermarket radio was the issue...

Ya that is concerning but if they get real stuck they will call in a corporate tech. It could be something big but that is rare enough to that one t is a bit early in the process to be panicking. The

Yeah this is really bad for the evap system/charcoal canister.

Doing it once or twice shouldn't do much harm. Its bad when you do it everytime you fill gas.

Everytime I see someone trying to get that extra drop into this tank...clicking three four time, I get this mad urge to stop them:mad0259:

I do tend to go straight for the worst possible scenario. Mostly because it can happen. Hopefully yours wil be OK

Well in the end I think it's fixed! Still don't know what the original issue was, the tech says the original issue was the wire being loose, and that when he reinstalled it, he put the sender in 180 degrees out of place and so the float was hitting the crossover.

All I know is the gauge is actually reading full and the odb read 12.4. I spoke with the tech and he said as soon as he heard the service manager over filled it, he took out the extra gas, and took the canister out expecting that it would need to be replaced. He said it was bone dry and that none of the gas made it through, but that it was noted in the service work so that if there is ever an issue with it, it will be replaced.

They also washed the car inside and out, the inside kinda has a weird clean smell, but at least it's not gasoline, I figure it will go away in a few days. All in all a 6/10 experience. Having to go back 3 times and drive a slushbox corolla around was not fun at all.

But atleast I got her back working now!

The tank has a mark to align the pump canister in the right direction thus allowing the float to read the full range, its plausible to think it was rotated in a way the float was not coming up all the way to full. glad to read its fixed!

And the nightmare continues!!

Just got my OFT last night, and I was super pumped about it, flashed the stage 1 tune and drove it last night just fine. Then I wake up this morning, go to start my car and it took more turns to start than usual, and then It sputtered off on the way to work, tried again and it would not go on.

Keep in mind that at this point I had 3.1 gallons in the tank of fuel, but pretty quickly I looked at my trip meter and realized I must be at 0. So I got some fuel from my brother, and it came right back on...

So I went to fill up, the dial still saying 3.1, and it took 12.8 gallons to fill it up!

And on top of that the gauge still only went to 3/4!

So then I brought it to the dealer, just mentioned the word lemon law, because New Hampshire is 3 failed attempts and then it goes in front of a board if you file, and the service manager brought out the shop foreman.

He was really down to earth and nice, and knew what he was talking about, and based on his diagnostic steps he followed I don't blame him why he thought it worked.

So now he's ordering two new senders and they're going to schedule me an appointment when they come in.

Stay tuned...

Well I just got my car back yesterday. They told me that the sub level fuel sensor was replaced. So far it seems to be working correctly, but I still have almost a full tank. Ill have to see what happens after I run it down and refill it.

Damn... Good luck and hope it gets really fixed really soon.

Picked up a '15 FRS last week in MN. Drove it back to Mass and would fill up when the car was at or over 300 miles (all highway), regardless of fuel gauge.


What I found interesting is the gauge never read below 1/4 tank remaining, but would take anywhere from 9 to 10 gallons, and never saw a "low fuel" light.


Part of the same issue as above? Time for a trip to the dealer? (Never overfilled and needle always went to full when re-starting the car)


--kC

Geez, man... I mean I was starting to feel a little angry just reading that! You must have the patience of a stone. Imagining me being in that situation, I would have flipped the hell out, hate when people tell me its fixed when its not, especially 5 times in a row, wasting my time and money. Hope it gets fixed, man :(

Tagging on to thread
 

Have fuel level indication issue. Started erratic indication. I ran out of gas a sew times. Looked in my original SM diagrams to see singular sending unit attached to fuel pump in the tank. Jumped and replaced the whole pump assembly. I needed filter replaced anyway. Problem persisted. Recently found second sending unit existed. During disassembly on passenger side noticed the hose from driver side laying over arm of sending unit. currently seeking more info.


Update:

Routed hose doubling back around outside of support column toward front of car. So far so good.