Gas Gauge Level Fix

Just did it again last week. Cleaned the contacts and adjusted the needle(level unit and fuel pump). Finally the gauge works as it should. This time I was using this stuff to clean the contacts and the needle:

DeoxIT D100L
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has anyone else tried this? or any other contact solution that may help deter (or at least delay) the problem from reoccurring? is there any kind of "grease" that could be applied to keep a barrier between the contacts and the gas, that wouldnt get eaten up by the gas???

I just know that after the third or fourth time, im going to break or damage something (like those little plastic hooks that hold the cover over the contacts)
 

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Well, the cleaning lasted a good 2 months, once again it acts if it has a 60/70-liter gastank. I'm pretty much fed up with this issue now, i'm not going to redo the whole thing again. I'll keep track on the milage, that should do. As soon as the needle goes to "Empty" i can fill up to 65 litres... I can live with that. Based on the actual milage (19 ml/gal av) the math is simpel..
 
I had both driver side sender and fuel pump replaced by a buddy who works at Nissan. filled up for the first time since and the gauge still only goes to 3/4 and the DTE says 204 miles. and now i can actually hear the pump (or something) under the back seat. driver side sender is OEM. Fuel pump is not (cheaper). my buddy say's that could be the problem. thought??
 
Great write up!! I used to just bend the sender tension pins for more contact. But this is great! Good job andy!
 
Andy and others,

So for a few months now when I fill up it doesn't quite reach all the way to the top. No big deal, but figured I'd maybe try to address it. Everything else works fine.
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I took it to the dealer and they said this doesn't fall under their TSB that the new FXs were having issues with, so this particular issue I was thinking was things getting dirty similar to what this DIY is all about.

I asked dealer to quote me for 2 sender replacements:
O-ring 17342-CE800 $17.02 x 2
Bracket 17045-1EA0A $15.38
Sender 25060-1CB1C $160.80
Sender 25060-1CB0C $160.80
Labor $113
$484.02+tax

I was going to try the DIY myself but worries me a bit about the issue you, Zebra, and some others have been having. I guess I don't want to make things worse as the slight lower amount after full refuel is not a big deal, but would like to fix if it's simply this cleaning. I'm also a little hesitant to use the eraser, thinking a qtip with distilled alcohol, or maybe throttle body cleaner would be better

Any updates to Andy, Zebra, and others if they are still having some issues? Not sure if I should do this to risk it making things worse than a little annoyance right now.
 

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Looks like the same old thing. At least it reads low rather than high. Cleaning would fix this and it's not a hard job. Have to disco the battery, since you will have a 4" wide opening into the gas tank... How long it lasts is anyone's guess. I think I gave up after 3 times. I just used the trip meter and reset at every fill, refilled at about 300 miles. Never knew if it would really go bonkers and leave me empty.
 
I just wonder when it comes time to sell my car and I have this gas gage issue, What kind of discount do you give them? How do you go about explaining that they have to now keep track of their miles and hit reset at the pump each time?? LOLz. I bet 99.9% of buyers that you would come across would think that we are crazies.
 
The fix wasn't permanent enough! My first cleaning prompted me to create this DIY lasted about a year, then it starts acting up again. The sub-sequence cleaning were more frequent... it wasn't dirty as the very first time though.

Since then, my BIL bought my FX35, the problem became his, lol. You know me, I can't let that slide. So I decided to start swapping parts with him to narrow down the "bad" sender. We decided to swap the driver side sender first since it is cheaper and easier to swap then the passenger side (it comes attached to the fuel pump). Currently, I'm running with his supposedly "bad" sender in my FX45 for about 4 months now without any issue with the gas gauge. His gas gauge is reading perfectly fine too.

So, what cause the problem? I honest don't know now, lol. We booth don't have any problem with incorrect fuel level since the swap.
 
The fix wasn't permanent enough! My first cleaning prompted me to create this DIY lasted about a year, then it starts acting up again. The sub-sequence cleaning were more frequent... it wasn't dirty as the very first time though.

Since then, my BIL bought my FX35, the problem became his, lol. You know me, I can't let that slide. So I decided to start swapping parts with him to narrow down the "bad" sender. We decided to swap the driver side sender first since it is cheaper and easier to swap then the passenger side (it comes attached to the fuel pump). Currently, I'm running with his supposedly "bad" sender in my FX45 for about 4 months now without any issue with the gas gauge. His gas gauge is reading perfectly fine too.

So, what cause the problem? I honest don't know now, lol. We booth don't have any problem with incorrect fuel level since the swap.
I've clean out my sensors. I've cleaned them to thr point where I can eat off of them. Then I like u bought the cheaper unit first and then the main unit. Installed it and still problems.

I've found another g sedan owner who had the same problems. he went and got his gauge cluster calibrated and his problem was fixed.

As my gauge problem has been going on over a year now I do believe it's my cluster. Fuel gauge is just a resistance meter, the float gives the amount of resistance. Higher resistance lower the level. I've talked to the guy doing the cluster repairs. The resistance gauge in time falls apart due to weak/bad soldering.

Guy has been charging like $150 to solder but the shipping is killer. Plus your car doesn't run without... (the other g owner found out first hand this).

Sounds like nissan doesn't care to fix this issue or is unaware of issues.
 
I've clean out my sensors. I've cleaned them to thr point where I can eat off of them. Then I like u bought the cheaper unit first and then the main unit. Installed it and still problems.

I've found another g sedan owner who had the same problems. he went and got his gauge cluster calibrated and his problem was fixed.

As my gauge problem has been going on over a year now I do believe it's my cluster. Fuel gauge is just a resistance meter, the float gives the amount of resistance. Higher resistance lower the level. I've talked to the guy doing the cluster repairs. The resistance gauge in time falls apart due to weak/bad soldering.

Guy has been charging like $150 to solder but the shipping is killer. Plus your car doesn't run without... (the other g owner found out first hand this).

Sounds like nissan doesn't care to fix this issue or is unaware of issues.

This is great information.

I should mention that when I went to the dealer and asked them for quotes, I asked them to assume that the senders were the issue based on this thread. The dealer wanted up to $133 to diagnose what exactly is the issue to then address that issue. Just wanted to clarify since I listed part numbers and all indicating that the issue to the gas level problem are the senders when in fact maybe they are not.

Also, I want to mention that the dealer was very well aware of all the recalls/TSB on the gas gauge problems. The techs looked into those and the issue I have where it is indicating less gas was verified not to be related to the TSB issue.
 
Thanks for sharing the info Peter.
No problem. It was a time consuming and costly me. Still no confirmed results for me as I can't be without a car for a week. But I'm 99% that is the fix for my car.

I might grab a cluster on ebay once I find the exact one that isn't at an insane price.

I actually got part of my info from a friend who owns a 03 m45. They had a recall for the gas Gauge and they got new clusters. Recall was issued a long time ago and I remembered the conversation when I saw the issues on my car.
 
So did this today. The sender units on both sides had everything exposed and didn't have to remove any clips for 2009. It didn't look dirty, but I still cleaned them with cue-tips that was douced in throttle body cleaner. Some dirt did get on the cue tips. Went to the gas station, filled up, and it's all the way to the top, past the mark like it used to. Interested. We will see I guess.
 
I did this last week for like the 5th time since I've had my fx. Gas guage is reading perfectly fine but when I went to put the fuel pump back in the tank I saw a rubber circular black ring floating around in there. Anybody know where that belongs? Another problem I have is even though the fuel pump sits perfectly fine when I put it back in and tightened up the black screws I smell gas when I drive the car. I went to check on the fuel pump after removing the seat and cover and it seems like it's leaking out gas from somewhere. Anyone ever have this issue? It's getting really annoying to smell gas all day. I tried taking out the pump and put putting it back in and screwing the screws in many times and it still smells like gas. Any help?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A
 
Last time I did this DIY, I noticed that what I erase is a thin film of crab, I wonder if anyone tried one of those fuel additives that are supposed to clean the injectors, valve seats .... Etc, i would guess that it can take care of this problem without dismantling anything.
Currently I do not have this issue, but I will try it when I do.


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