What am I doing wrong?
 

On 6/18/2013 7:27 PM, BAR wrote:
In article , says...

On Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:23:12 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:



"iBoaterer" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...


But, at least I know the gas gauge and the speedometer readings are
correct.

Now you should see if the speedometer reads correctly as well, don't
want a ticket! Just go 60 mph (96.56kph). It should take one minute to
go one mile.

----------------------------------------------

Did that. It reads fine So does the trip odometer. It's only the
total mileage odometer that reads crazy.

I am getting to the bottom of this, only because it has me very
curious.
There are two plastic gears buried in the instrument cluster. The
gears apparently rotate mini tachometers that send pulses to the BSM
computer which in turn calculates the mileage displays.

One gear (the smaller of the two) is for the trip odometer which
reads in tenths of kilometers. The larger gear is for the total
mileage odometer which reads whole kilometers only.

My guess is that the gears are fine, simply because both displays
increase in readings while driving. The problem has to be either with
whatever the tach unit is (generating too many pulses) or some
component in the computer itself that is counting too many pulses.

This is about as far as I'll take this investigation. I have no
desire to rip apart the instrument cluster or replace the BSM
computer. Car only cost $2,500.
I really don't care if the mileage reading is correct or not as long
as the speedometer and gas gauges are working, which they are.

BTW ... I've found several cautious on car forums that you should
never "reset" the trip odometer while the car is in motion. It should
only be reset while parked or stopped. Apparently the design of the
odometer/trip odometer system that is in the Saturn is common to those
in cars of many manufacturers.
The small, plastic gear is prone to being stripped if you reset the
reading while it is spinning.


Thanks. Wonder if that's true for Chevy trucks also. Haven't heard about it.

John H.

I recently had my fuel pump replaced in my F-150 SuperCrew. Now the gas gauge reads empty
when I have about 4 gallons left and the low fuel light comes on at 5 gallons left.

They must have bent the fuel sender when they replaced the fuel pump.

What am I doing wrong?
 

On 6/18/2013 8:09 PM, Hank© wrote:
On 6/18/2013 7:27 PM, BAR wrote:
In article ,
says...

On Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:23:12 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:



"iBoaterer" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...


But, at least I know the gas gauge and the speedometer readings are
correct.

Now you should see if the speedometer reads correctly as well, don't
want a ticket! Just go 60 mph (96.56kph). It should take one minute to
go one mile.

----------------------------------------------

Did that. It reads fine So does the trip odometer. It's only the
total mileage odometer that reads crazy.

I am getting to the bottom of this, only because it has me very
curious.
There are two plastic gears buried in the instrument cluster. The
gears apparently rotate mini tachometers that send pulses to the BSM
computer which in turn calculates the mileage displays.

One gear (the smaller of the two) is for the trip odometer which
reads in tenths of kilometers. The larger gear is for the total
mileage odometer which reads whole kilometers only.

My guess is that the gears are fine, simply because both displays
increase in readings while driving. The problem has to be either with
whatever the tach unit is (generating too many pulses) or some
component in the computer itself that is counting too many pulses.

This is about as far as I'll take this investigation. I have no
desire to rip apart the instrument cluster or replace the BSM
computer. Car only cost $2,500.
I really don't care if the mileage reading is correct or not as long
as the speedometer and gas gauges are working, which they are.

BTW ... I've found several cautious on car forums that you should
never "reset" the trip odometer while the car is in motion. It should
only be reset while parked or stopped. Apparently the design of the
odometer/trip odometer system that is in the Saturn is common to those
in cars of many manufacturers.
The small, plastic gear is prone to being stripped if you reset the
reading while it is spinning.


Thanks. Wonder if that's true for Chevy trucks also. Haven't heard
about it.

John H.

I recently had my fuel pump replaced in my F-150 SuperCrew. Now the
gas gauge reads empty
when I have about 4 gallons left and the low fuel light comes on at 5
gallons left.

They must have bent the fuel sender when they replaced the fuel pump.

Bout right... they want about 60 miles useable when the light comes on.
I am not sure why there is still so much variation from car to car even
within the same production...

What am I doing wrong?
 

wrote in message ...

On Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:12:33 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:

This is pretty simple but I can't figure out what I am doing wrong:

Bought a 2002 Saturn for a kick around town car. It's a Canadian
car, so the odometer reads in kilometers instead of miles. It's a
very basic car and you can't set it to read in miles.

So, the day I picked it up it had a quarter of a tank of gas. I
stopped at the gas station and put in $20 worth. At $3.68/gal that
amounts to about 5.4 gallons. It brought the gauge up to about 3/4
full.

Drove the car around for over a week until the gauge read a quarter
tank again. According to the odometer, I had travelled 700
kilometers.

1 kilometer equals 0.62 miles. So, 700 kilometers time 0.62 equals
434 miles.

Divide 434 miles by the 5.4 gallons I had burned and it says the car
is getting about 80 miles per gallon !!!

I was just trying to get a rough idea of what kind of mileage it gets,
but this can't be right. What am I doing wrong? I feel like an
idiot.

You are trusting the gas gage. Fill it up all the way, make your
measurements and then fill it up all the way again. THEN you'll have
an accurate fuel measure.


---------------

He has a accurate measure of the gas, or at least fairly accurate. Using
the gas pump for the volume. Miles driven sounds bogus.

What am I doing wrong?
 

In article ,
says...

In article , says...

On Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:23:12 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:



"iBoaterer" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...


But, at least I know the gas gauge and the speedometer readings are
correct.

Now you should see if the speedometer reads correctly as well, don't
want a ticket! Just go 60 mph (96.56kph). It should take one minute to
go one mile.

----------------------------------------------

Did that. It reads fine So does the trip odometer. It's only the
total mileage odometer that reads crazy.

I am getting to the bottom of this, only because it has me very
curious.
There are two plastic gears buried in the instrument cluster. The
gears apparently rotate mini tachometers that send pulses to the BSM
computer which in turn calculates the mileage displays.

One gear (the smaller of the two) is for the trip odometer which
reads in tenths of kilometers. The larger gear is for the total
mileage odometer which reads whole kilometers only.

My guess is that the gears are fine, simply because both displays
increase in readings while driving. The problem has to be either with
whatever the tach unit is (generating too many pulses) or some
component in the computer itself that is counting too many pulses.

This is about as far as I'll take this investigation. I have no
desire to rip apart the instrument cluster or replace the BSM
computer. Car only cost $2,500.
I really don't care if the mileage reading is correct or not as long
as the speedometer and gas gauges are working, which they are.

BTW ... I've found several cautious on car forums that you should
never "reset" the trip odometer while the car is in motion. It should
only be reset while parked or stopped. Apparently the design of the
odometer/trip odometer system that is in the Saturn is common to those
in cars of many manufacturers.
The small, plastic gear is prone to being stripped if you reset the
reading while it is spinning.


Thanks. Wonder if that's true for Chevy trucks also. Haven't heard about it.

John H.

I recently had my fuel pump replaced in my F-150 SuperCrew. Now the gas gauge reads empty
when I have about 4 gallons left and the low fuel light comes on at 5 gallons left.

Putting the fuel pump in the gas tank along with the sending unit is a
PITA!!! I don't know why they did that, they could have put an electric
pump anywhere!

What am I doing wrong?
 

"iBoaterer" wrote in message
...


Putting the fuel pump in the gas tank along with the sending unit is a
PITA!!! I don't know why they did that, they could have put an
electric
pump anywhere!

---------------------------------------------------

I was told it's to keep the pump cool. Ford has done it for many
years, along with other manufacturers probably.

Many years ago I had a Ford pickup that had two gas tanks (front and
rear). Started having problems with it. The truck would only idle.
As soon as you gave it any gas it would sputter and stall, regardless
of which tank was selected. First thing we checked off the list is
that it *couldn't* be was a fuel pump because both of them would never
go bad at the same time. Well, turns out they did. Took a lengthy
process of elimination for that one.

What am I doing wrong?
 

In article ,
says...

"iBoaterer" wrote in message
...


Putting the fuel pump in the gas tank along with the sending unit is a
PITA!!! I don't know why they did that, they could have put an
electric
pump anywhere!

---------------------------------------------------

I was told it's to keep the pump cool. Ford has done it for many
years, along with other manufacturers probably.

Many years ago I had a Ford pickup that had two gas tanks (front and
rear). Started having problems with it. The truck would only idle.
As soon as you gave it any gas it would sputter and stall, regardless
of which tank was selected. First thing we checked off the list is
that it *couldn't* be was a fuel pump because both of them would never
go bad at the same time. Well, turns out they did. Took a lengthy
process of elimination for that one.



My first was an 88 Ford Taurus. Until I thought about it, it was strange
to me that there were just plain old spade connections to a pump that is
submerged in gasoline! And of course, taking the gas tank out because
the pump/sending unit came out of the top was a task, not like the old
days, it had about everything in the way!

What am I doing wrong?
 

In article ,
says...

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:41:53 -0400, iBoaterer
wrote:



My first was an 88 Ford Taurus. Until I thought about it, it was strange
to me that there were just plain old spade connections to a pump that is
submerged in gasoline! And of course, taking the gas tank out because
the pump/sending unit came out of the top was a task, not like the old
days, it had about everything in the way!

I just bought an $800 fuel pump in my Explorer.

I really should have paid the $100 (or more) to have it towed home and
fixed it myself.

YOUCH!!!

What am I doing wrong?
 

On 6/19/2013 1:06 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:15:07 -0400, iBoaterer
wrote:

In article ,
says...

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:41:53 -0400, iBoaterer
wrote:



My first was an 88 Ford Taurus. Until I thought about it, it was strange
to me that there were just plain old spade connections to a pump that is
submerged in gasoline! And of course, taking the gas tank out because
the pump/sending unit came out of the top was a task, not like the old
days, it had about everything in the way!

I just bought an $800 fuel pump in my Explorer.

I really should have paid the $100 (or more) to have it towed home and
fixed it myself.

YOUCH!!!

NAPA auto center.

The lesson here is never break down too far from home.
They talked me into buying the whole assembly (pump, gauge sender,
float and base) by saying (essentially) that they usually break
something else trying to just replace the pump)


I don't understand why they would break stuff replacing the pump
although it was rare to see just the pump replaced at GM.. Usually did
the whole thing in one piece with the sock and all...

What am I doing wrong?
 

In article ,
says...

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:15:07 -0400, iBoaterer
wrote:

In article ,
says...

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:41:53 -0400, iBoaterer
wrote:



My first was an 88 Ford Taurus. Until I thought about it, it was strange
to me that there were just plain old spade connections to a pump that is
submerged in gasoline! And of course, taking the gas tank out because
the pump/sending unit came out of the top was a task, not like the old
days, it had about everything in the way!

I just bought an $800 fuel pump in my Explorer.

I really should have paid the $100 (or more) to have it towed home and
fixed it myself.

YOUCH!!!

NAPA auto center.

The lesson here is never break down too far from home.
They talked me into buying the whole assembly (pump, gauge sender,
float and base) by saying (essentially) that they usually break
something else trying to just replace the pump)

Gee, I did it on a 35 degree evening, no lift, etc. and didn't break a
thing! As you well know, they just want the $$$.

What am I doing wrong?
 

In article ,
says...

On 6/19/2013 1:06 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:15:07 -0400, iBoaterer
wrote:

In article ,
says...

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:41:53 -0400, iBoaterer
wrote:



My first was an 88 Ford Taurus. Until I thought about it, it was strange
to me that there were just plain old spade connections to a pump that is
submerged in gasoline! And of course, taking the gas tank out because
the pump/sending unit came out of the top was a task, not like the old
days, it had about everything in the way!

I just bought an $800 fuel pump in my Explorer.

I really should have paid the $100 (or more) to have it towed home and
fixed it myself.

YOUCH!!!

NAPA auto center.

The lesson here is never break down too far from home.
They talked me into buying the whole assembly (pump, gauge sender,
float and base) by saying (essentially) that they usually break
something else trying to just replace the pump)


I don't understand why they would break stuff replacing the pump
although it was rare to see just the pump replaced at GM.. Usually did
the whole thing in one piece with the sock and all...

Yeah, to make more money off of parts.