My Z28 keeps running out of gas when the guage tells me I have gas. The first time it happened, the guage was reading 1/4 tank. I thought the guage was faulty, so I started putting gas in it before it got down to 1/4 tank. Last week, it did it again at 1/2 tank. When I filled it up again, it only allowed me to put in 9.8 gallons - I have a 15-gallon tank. The guage has been tested and is fine.

The technician is going to spend 5-hrs dropping my fuel tank to see if it needs a new sending unit. What I don't understand is what could possibly be INSIDE my tank that is displacing the volume and telling the guage it is half full?

Anyone else out there ever have this problem? Unfortunately, we purchased this car used in April, and don't know much about its history.

HELP!!!!

 

Sounds more like a something wrong with the fuel pump than anything else. I wouldn't even waste your money on letting him drop the tank. If it said around 1/2 tank and you only put in 9.8 gallons it's right. The bottom half of the tanks holds less than the top. At 15.5 gallons, 9.8 would be considered about half empty in a Fbody. Check the fuel pressure and the fuel pump relay.

 

One thing you will notice with the camaros exspecially is the fuel gauges truthfully arent accurate by any means, most gauges when you fill a tank up completly will go way past the full mark and stay there for quite some time, 3/4's of a tank according to the gauge on a camaro is more then likely less then half a tank, on my car at the 1/4 mark it ends up that i only have a couple gallons in the tank.

 

I've been reading a lot of old posts, and finding out that the gauge is probably never going to be 100% accurate. My big confusion, however, is if my tank is really "empty" at the 1/2 full mark, then the gauge is not right (but they tested it as being okay). So, even if it is saying 1/2-full, I should still be able to pump at least 14 gallons of gas into my tank - right? Then why can't I get more than 9.8 gallons of gas into the tank when I go to fill it up? The gas hose clicks off - it isn't a matter of a float detection. So, after I fill it up, I'm only getting to drive 200 miles before it runs out again. I'm only using the 9.8 gallons that I put in - not a full 15. That's where I'm completely stumped.