Hello I am having this weird fuel issue with my 09 escape 3.0l AWD. I can fill up just fine. Car drive perfectly fine. Its just this fuel issue.
It all started when i bought the car after a few days of owning it i noticed the fuel gaugue was off, no biggy just a simple fuel pump replacement(did that).
A few days go by and now the most bizarre thing is happening, I have one code that shows up that is emissions. (EVAP Pressure Sensor Circuit High/Open) cant recall exact code number. And now everytime i fill up my tank i never get a “full” tank. Ik with escaoe i should get around 300ish miles with the car at full i csn barely get 190.
It will go from 183m to e normal, every mile goes 1 miles of gas normal, then it hits 171 and just drops… from 171 to 151. It will hold steady until 148ish and then drop to 130. It will do that just sitting idle in the driveway in matter of seconds. I eill link a youtube video i got kinda showing whats happening. I will say there is no fuel smell in the cabin at all while friving or when it drops, only time i smell gas is when im near my gas cap usually shortly after filling up.
you can try this to reset the fuel gauge to see if it helps. you may have a defective fuel sending unit, even though you said you replaced the fuel pump.
I may be wrong but I interpret what the OP is saying is that they rely on the computer to tell how much fuel is in the tank and maybe the gas gauge secondarily. I’m thinking the issue is that the tank is not being filled to full capacity due to problems with the evaporator system. Fixing that should eliminate the underfilling issue,
Contradictory sentences. Please explain more precisely what you mean.
If the problem is that the gas pump shuts off before you can put as much gasoline into the tank as it should be able to take, that’s usually a problem with one of the valves in the evap system. As you pour gasoline into the tank evap system valves route the fumes which were in the tank into the evap canister. The canister separates and holds onto the gasoline, and allows the air to escape. Then as you drive other valves direct the gasoline from the canister into the engine. If that all doesn’t occur as designed, the pump will shut off before the tank is full.
Likely causes
The purge valve has failed & isn’t allowing the gasoline in the canister into the engine to be burned during driving.
The vent valve has failed and isn’t allowing the air in the canister from escaping during fill-ups.
What i mean by fill up fine is it lets me add gas just never reaches true full point on my tripmeter. I can only ever get 190 miles on a full tank. I can add gas nothing is stopping me from adding gas. I just dont have accurate reading at all. Sorry for the contradiction in my sentences.
Im sorry for poor typing skills. I was saying i know escape from factory with a full tank gets around 300 miles. I can hardly get 190 on a “full” tank.
That means nothing . Figure your miles per gallon the old fashioned way and see if you are getting close to the EPA rating . If your gauge reads 1/4 tank when you fill up see if the amount of gallons is close to what the tank should hold . It will not be accurate but might be within 3 or 4 gallons .
Google says your Escape has a 16.5 gallon fuel tank ( the low fuel light should come on when you have about 3 gallons left . It shows a city range of 330 miles and a highway range of 462 if you use every drop . Which you will not do and very few people actually get the EPA rating .
Is this the first vehicle you have had the dash readouts of ( miles to empty - instantaneous miles per gallon - average mpg ) ? If so you might not be understanding those numbers .
That is what is throwing me off completely. I cant get anywhere near 300 miles. And the fuel light comes on between a quarter and half. Usually right when it says 50 miles to e the fuel light comes on.
OK, I’ll try and unravel a bit. You need to physically check the gallons that are going into your tank as was suggested. If you are able to fill the tank the full 15, 20 or whatever the capacity is, then it’s not the evap system. If you can’t get a full tank, then the evap system.
Now I think you are relying on the computer telling you how much gas you have, and it not being the same as your gas gauge. I don’t know why or how but I think they calculate the fuel separately. I had that with my Riviera where the sender in the tank showed no fuel on the gas gauge but the computer still calculated fuel use. So forget the computer, but if the gauge is wacky, then you have an issue with the sending unit in the tank.
So you just have to isolate which problem is it? Not being able to fill the tank based on the gas pump, or the gauge not accurately reading what is in the tank?
So do you suggest I run the tank empty or close to it. Bcuz what scares me is the fuel light coming on at around quarter tank. And should i just say screw the computer and risk getting stranded somewhere out of fuel running off the gauge.
If your miles per gallon are reasonable for the driving you do, then you are having trouble getting the tank completely filled. If your miles per gallon is much lower than normal, then you have an entirely different problem. Until you accurately know your miles per gallon, you won’t get this diagnosed. Don’t trust gauges, readouts, etc. Actually compute your miles since your last fillup and know how many gallons the pump delivered. DO NOT RUN YOUR CAR OUT OF GAS. Tell us what mileage you compute.
If you fill up from when your gas gauge shows half full, it the amount of gas you add approximately half the tank capacity listed in your owners manual? I.e. if the tank capacity is 18 gallons and you are down to half a tank, will it take 9 gallons to fill it?
If you run to near empty, showing 50 miles to go and the yellow light is on, will it take at least 14 gallons to fill it (should be closer to 16 to fill)?
When you fill it and it shows only 180 miles to go, instead of the expected 300, have you tried to go past 180 before the yellow light comes on (do not run out of gas).
Have you looked at the MPG display? The miles to go is based on the average MPG shown on the display.
Have you compared the average MPG display to actual calculated MPG where you record the number of miles between fill up and the gallons it took to fill up, i.e. 180 miles since last fill up, 10 gallons to fill, actual MPG is 18 mpg.
As for the miles to go dropping in your video, if you are idling, your average MPG is dropping and since the miles to go is based on the MPG, it will drop also. If you drive around doing your best to get the best gas mileage you can, the avg MPG will start to go up and so will miles to go. The variation you are seeing looks normal to me.
Last thing, you haven’t switched from Km to miles on your computer have you? 300 Km is about 186 miles.
Edit: one more “last thing”. Are you resetting the trip odometer when you fill up?
