Fuel Leak?

Do you park your car on a level surface or on an incline?

Most fuel gauges are affected by the slope of the road you are in. I have seen some that the needle goes down when the car is going up hill (nissan) and some that the needle goes up (renault)

In case of a leak, Look for it around the fuel tank or the high pressure hoses, fuel filter in the engine compartment.

Do you feel the smell when the tank is full, empty, or regarless? Sometimes gas leaks through the seal between the fuel level sender-fuel pump and the gas tank.

Good luck

Sim> Im starting to wonder whether my poor fuel economy might just be down to

On Wed, 01 Nov 2006 23:25:57 GMT, AS graced this newsgroup with:

I would think that to actually affect the position of the fuel gauge, the fuel loss would have to be *significant*. There would be a pretty sizeable pool of fuel (a gallon or more) to have to be lost for the gauge to indicate a loss. And if you lost THAT much, you'd see it in the morning. That much fuel isn't going to evaporate and leave no trace in that short of a period of time.

I suspect that he has something going on with the float or sensor rather than actual loss of fuel.

What I have noticed in my Maxima is that while the car is being driven, presumably there are more fumes in the tank, fuel is sloshing around, the guage tends to stay ever so slightly higher. Once I park for the night and start the car in the AM, the gauge has dropped - however, after having driving around again the needle rises that delta again.

I usually notice this on my way home - when I park I'll be at a 1/4 tank and remind myself to refuel in the AM.. then first thing in the AM, I notice the needle is infact a notch to 2 below the 1/4 tank mark...

I have noticed this as well. My theory was that the gasoline expanded in volume with the warmer temperatures in the afternoon. Then in the cool of the morning the volume was reduced. I had heard a gas station owner explain this phenomenon when it came to the quantity of gasoline that went into the storage tanks. However, I am not sure if the capacity of a car's gas tank is large enough for this to be measurable by the gas gauge.

-- R Flowers

Thanks for the reply by the way..

I mostly park on the flat. I seem to have more fuel in my car when I slope to the right as opposed to the left. It's the difference between an 1/8th of a tank!

I pulled up last night, had 7/8ths of a tank. Pulled off this morning, I was down to 3/4. Thought I'd try an experiment. Put in 12.61 Litres of Petrol today and that had taken me 50 miles! 50 miles I ask!

EEK!

I was trying to smell out for the gas. I couldn't quite remember whether it was when full, empty or whatever. I think it's actually when it's warmer out. Now it's cold, I don't notice it. I'll try and leave the tank to go empty to test.

Cheers Sim> Do you park your car on a level surface or on an incline?

I think it's something very physical in that 50 miles = 12.61 litres! ie, 18 mpg...

Cya Simon