My VX Fuel Gauge might be inaccurate. Is there a cure?
 

Hi there guys.

My VX Fuel Gauge is kinda inaccurate because when it says I am on empty or a little bit below the E, I still have 1.5 gallons left in tank.

I know this, because I have tested this many times. When I go fill up to the point it overflows with gas, The station pump tells me I put about 8.5 gallons, when supposively the tank on this 95 VX is 10 gallons.


Could something be broken somewhere? What should I replace or check or is this normal?

Thank you.!

Civic fuel gauges of the early 90s generation are notoriously inaccurate, mine included. The fact that the VX doesn't have a fuel light doesn't make it any easier. The more I drive it the more I learn its safe limits fuel-wise.

If there's a fix however, I'd be interested as well.

Most mfr's do this on purpose. There is some reserve capacity in the tank that the gauge does not read. Its supposed to help keep you from running out of gas. On The Beast the manual says it has a 26 gallon tank, however the most I have ever put in it is about 21 gallons. I'm too chicken to try and run it lower. I don't like walking as I regularly travel to areas where the nearest fuel station is 10 miles away.

-Jay

I don't think I've ever heard of a fuel gauge that's "accurate" in any reasonable sense of the word...

Mine is kinda opposite to that though, when the low fuel light starts flashing on, the needle is at about 1/8 above E, at that point if I refill it, I get about 15.5 gallons in it, and it's supposedly a 15G tank... BUT I also know that even with the fuel light fully lit, there's still about 50 highway miles in it, and it's not sputtering even then, so my 15G nominal tank appears to hold at least 17.5 gallons.

Edit: Oh, if you get a car with a glitchy gauge around midway, it's probably that the previous owner was one of those who put $10 or $20 in at a time, and never ran full tanks. Sometimes just running a few full tanks will deglitch it, but also sticking in some isopropyl alcohol which is used as a contact cleaner can help it.

The only car I know of that was that accurate was the 76 Pinto wagon my mother used to have. When mom first got the car she ran out of gas. She used to say when it read E it meant it...

-Jay

I've never met a fuel gauge any more accurate than that.

Yea my VX was the same way...I think the most i ever put in was 9 gallons and thats after I was on E for a while...I also suggest just stop filling up when the pump shuts off, no need to over fill or over flow the tank ;)

I agree. and I'v had like 15 cars.

Went 98 miles after it hit E. I think it can go another 45 miles. When i filled up i put 12.3 gallons. The manual says it holds 13.7. I put better gas this time(Shell) so i will go until it runs out.

You could install an aftermarket fuel gauge (or a volt gauge). Unfortunately you'd need to install a new float in the tank.

I don't think it's worth it. It's just there to tell you to fill gas and has no bearing on your mpg calculations.

My solution was to fill the tank, one gallon at a time, to get an idea of the actual readings in one gallon increments.

Guage readings vary for several reasons. The most significant is the fact that when you turn on the ignition the guage reading is utilizing battery voltage, around 12.5 volts. When you start the engine your voltage rises to about 13.5volts, so the guage reading will be slightly higher.

Any motion of the vehicle causes float oscillations.

Any motion or g forces both longitudionally or laterally will cause oscillations.

Changes in the angle of your vehicle, uphill, downhill, or sidehill, will change readings.

All of these considered I find my guage to be fairly accurate, when you understand the various outside influences to the guage reading. My guage reads exactly to the center slash (1/2) when it takes 5 gallons of fuel to fill the tank.

Another way to measure fuel level would be to install an ohm meter so you can read the sending unit directly, but you will have to take readings under identical conditions in order for it to be fairly accurate. I did this by parking in the same spot, allowing things to stabilize for 15 minutes, then reading the sending unit with the ignition on, but with the engine not running. I even did this without sitting in the car so my body weight would not create a splashing effect on the fuel in the tank.


regards
gary

On all the Hondas and Acuras that I've owned, the needle takes forever to reach the middle mark, but then once you pass that mark, it falls to empty quite rapidly. For instance by the time you reach the middle mark you will have right around 250 miles on your tripmeter. But by empty you will have scarcely over 300 miles.

The engineers did this intentionally as people have already mentioned.

The fuel gauge on my VX fluctuates wildly. When going around right turns it lowers; on left turns it reads higher. Going up or down hills also affects the reading. I make sure to zero out my trip odometer at each fill up, then make sure to refill when the odo reaches about 350 miles or so regardless of what the gas gauge says. I then simply divide the number of miles on the trip odo by the exact amount of gas put in on the credit card receipt and calculate my mpg per fill up (worst mileage=42 mpg, best mileage=47 mpg).