Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General GAS TANK NEEDLE IS A LIAR!!!

That gas tank needle of mine, lies to me and decieves me so often. Everyone knows that the tank of a mystique (possibly a contour as well) is a 50L tank, so therefore under normal conditions you expect about 450 to 500ish KM of mileage from your duratec. Well, when the needle is at half the tank, you'd expect to get maybe double of what the trip meter is (assuming you reset it after each fill up like me), actually you're only looking at getting the last 10 to 12.5L of gas back in useage. Because if on a low gas light, I put $20 or 20L of gas at 99.9L, it gives me more than half a tank on the needle. (LOL this last paragraph is a grammatical nightmare )

Anyway my point and question here is, is there ANYWAY to get the needle to be more accurate. I mean after 150 to 200KM or about anywhere from 10 to 20L of useage, the needle still reads and hovers around the full mark so I mean it's quite deceptive because guessing the efficiency of the engine and going by the trip meter is not really that accurate considering all the variables in fuel economy.

Do the rest of you guys ever notice that? Because I want the needle to be a little more accurate, is it a fuel sensor I have to change? If you guys know, or can comment on this, that'd be well appreciated.

My needle gets kicked into overdrive after it passes the half way mark also, doesn't bother me much I fill whenever I need to anyway. I average about 23 MPG

I reset the trip meter and rely on that to determine how much gas I've got left (in whatever car I use).

The Contour's indicator is weird due simply to the shape of the gas tank. My indicator would read "full" for nearly 100 miles, then drop down to 1/4 tank during the next 100 miles, and remain between 1/4 tank and E for the last 100 miles (I generally got a little less than 300 miles before filling up again).

After getting used to this scenario for a while, you can imagine how panicked I felt when buying my Probe GT in 2002 and it read 3/4 tank with only 75 miles driven!

It is due to the shape of the gas tank. The float will hit full, even when there is a gallon or 2 above that in raised areas of the tank. I don't figure the needle is accurate until after 1/2 tank. I generally know within 4-5 miles when the "Hey, get gas!" light will come on.

Cliffs notes: Not a damn thing you can do about it.

I usually fill it up when the needle says a quarter tank. By then I've gone around 235 - 270 miles. It usually takes about 8 gallons when I do this so I know I could go farther. I just don't like to run the tank down and muck up the filters or run the risk of burning out a fuel pump.
Karl

for my experience most of the car get stuck on full for a while before downfalling quickly

Only things you could do is make the tank the symmetrical or get a fuel cell and add a good aftermarket sender/gauge.

...Which is way too much for a small annoyance. Just learn how the guage works in your car and follow it.

mine goes up and down every 30 seconds haha-- it's obnoxious

SPEAKING OF LOW FUEL LIGHT, is there a fuse or something for this? any reason why i dont have one that lights up when low on fuel? Is there some ding ding ding bell or something that i do not have working? In regards to the fuel line, yes, its a [censored], but its a deceptive comfort when at like 150 km its still at full, haha oh well, i guess you can see the glass half full from full take to 1/2 tank and half empty from 1/2 tank to empty. Good ol contour. I just wish i could drive mine now, oh well, brake failure does that to a contour. Oh well.