2001 Honda Civic Gas Gauge

[roguerower]

I have a 2001 Honda Civic that's got a little less than 130k miles on it. Recently (within the past month or two) the gas gauge has become erratic and feeding me bad info. I can drive for 200 miles and the needle will never move off full, but as soon as I restart the car, it will show at half tank. This monring when I woke up I know I still have a 1/4 tank but the gauge read below empty. As I drove to work, the gauge began to rise until when I parked it read 1 or 2 notches above empty. When I go out for lunch today the gauge will most likely read the correct 1/4 tank.

I have no idea what's wrong...any ideas?

 

[Zenmervolt]

Several possibilities.

It could be the sending unit in the tank. It could be the electrical connections at the sending unit coming out of the tank. It could be the connections at the gauge cluster. Or it could be the gauge itself. If I had to guess though, I would say that the most likely cause is a loose or corroded connection at either end. After that, the sending unit.

ZV

 

[radioouman]

I think that you can get to the sending unit in a Civic under the rear seat. I'll bet that it is the sending unit but corrosion on electrical connectors going to the gauge could also cause it.

 

[BassBomb]

I have always had the same thing with my 2002 Civic.

I just know how much it can take and drive accordingly. The gauge was always terrible for me and did exactly as you described...
I never had it say empty when it was not though.

 

[Jensenfc]

My dads 04 civic lx was doing something similar to that. The tank would be almost empty and the gauge was correct. You would put gas in it the gauge would take anywhere from 1 second to reach full to 30-50 miles for the gauge to go back up. He got the cluster replaced under warrenty. However the new cluster had 0 on the odometer and they claimed they had to send it to California to program it to old millage. He didn't want to wait another 1-2 weeks so he got a brand new car again lol. I thought his gauge was screwed up because he used to never fill the car up until the light came on. He once put 13.1 gallons into the tank. I think the civic has a 13.2 gallon tank or something.

He only has had three issues with it in 93k miles. 1. The stupid gas door release broke, 2. The stupid gas gauge, and 3. The squeaky clutch (It squeaks in 2 places, one inside the car and one under the hood) You can get it to stop squeaking for awhile with lithium grease but it just starts squeaking again in a month or so.