Hello, I have been dealing w/ a broken gas gauge for a while and have been monitoring my mileage and fill-ups and have been able to calculate my gas usage pretty well, however sometimes I may get a little lost on where my level is at. I just recently have been using a long plastic tie strap that reaches the end (I think) of the gas intake and I believe hits the gas tank. (Its goes in about 4’ and I cannot push it any further at that point)
My question is when it comes up w/ no gasoline on it I am wondering how many gallons are remaining. Looking at a diagram of the gas tank it looks concave, where some of the gas may sit lower that where my tie hits. But I am almost certain that I have at least a few gallons remaining. Does anyone have a guess as to how much I may have? For safety and other reasons this is not something that I am doing often, its just in this case I am a few miles from a gas station so I do not want to risk it. Thanks in advance!
-dj
I see no way to tell from the diagram. How many miles can you drive on a full tank before no gas shows on your “dip stick”?
You can always “thump” the tank with your hand to ascertain if gas is left in the tank. A full, half full and empty tank is easy to recognize this way. In my younger days…I had to do this on an old Chevy pickup that I drove. The gas tank was behind the seat so it was really easy. You could just get the gas gauge fixed and solve your problem but that’s up to you.
If the car can go about 400 miles on a tank (just saying-it may be more or less), just fill it up every 250 miles if you drive a lot in the city and 300 miles if you drive on the highway most of the tank. This is a simple solution.
My suggestion is to either replace the sender (99% of the time that’s the problem) or fill the tank twice as often as you are and skip the dipstick. If you’re currently filling up once a week, start filling up twice a week. Of course, fixing the problem is always better.
I agree with @CWATKIN; , but hit the trip odometer when you fill up and when you reach the miles you should go with 1/2 to 2/4 tank…stop and fill up…and hit the trip odometer again.
But I would consider fixing it when you get to it.
Yosemite