1 week old Silverado fuel gauge will not go all the way to full

My 2000 Z71 is tough to fill all the way. I think it's because unloaded the rear of the truck sits higher then the front. Since the fill is on the front of the tank it traps air in the rear. If I keep trying I can get two or three gallons in after it first stops filling. I don't have that problem with my fuel gauge, mine reads empty until I use about a quarter tank and then it's fine.

Al

While this sounds feasable at least, I would think technology would have recognized and solved any such problem as that. If it hasn't, where are we? A simple, effective vent would eliminate that problem, and I'm sure there is one, otherwise you wouldn't be able to pump fuel out of the tank at all.

Since the fill is on the front

Reads empty until you use a quarter tank?! Come on now, surely you didn't mean to say that, or your are trolling.

Strangely enough, at my next fill, the gauge did go all the way to full. Stranger still, to me, this third tankful I only got 10mpg as opposed to 18.5 and 19.5 on the first two! On this third tank, I did do a lot of short hopping, shopping for after market parts and turning off the engine and restarts, but I am amazed if that made this get that poor of fuel mileage.... still.

New truck = dealer's problem. Make them fix it or at least explain it. I'd go for fix it.

No I'm not trolling and it does do what I said! When it first did it I posted here and was told it was a bad sending unit. Since it works fine after I use about a quarter tank I have been living with. If they put an access panel in the bed to get to the fuel pump I would spend the money to fix it, if it starts to give false readings when it's low on fuel I will change it. I had a landscape contractor here last fall with a dump body conversion on his Silverado, I was standing next to his truck when he dumped a load of mulch and I could have changed his fuel pump faster then he spread the mulch. It might be worth doing a dump body conversion before I have to drop the tank to change mine.

Al

This is a very obtuse symptom. It makes no rational sense. Since most people can barely put their shoes on the right feet these days, how would you expect them to fix or explain it?

Have you already talked to the dealership? How do you know they won't be able to fix, explain, or replace? If I just spent, what, @$30,000 on a new truck, they would ABSOLUTELY address the problem to my satisfaction, no matter how obtuse or irrational.

Yes, I have. You might see my previous post about the engine noise on 5/22, and how they addressed that. Let me know if you can't find it and I'll repost it for you.

I was lucky to have had a day off to inclement weather that day, otherwise I'm always working when the service department is open. I can get there when the sales people are still there, but it doesn't appear to me that if they know anything at all about similar problems, that they are going to let on that they do. I can get a loaner for a day, while they take it in. I'm going to do that.

I've been lurking in this group for years, and I am surprised there is so little going on here these days, and no postings about my year at all that I can find.

I only drop the tank on a pick-up if the bed cannot be removed (service truck or heavy toolboxes). It is MUCH easier to pull the bed than drop the tank if you need to service the pump or sender. 4-6 bolts, spare tire, wiring harness and it's off.

I may try that, but not before I'm forced into action. Until then I'll spend my time diving and ignore the gauge and "Low Fuel" warning when I know the tank is full. My bigger problem is I have no power steering when I turn the wheel to the left at low speed,it works fine when turning to the right.

Al

If you are getting 20.5 mpg with city driving, evidentally your odometer is malfunctioning too. I love Chevy's and like the 5.3 but I'm afraid you won't get that kind of mileage in city driving (unless of course you refer to driving on an interstate from your home in the suburbs at 70mph to work...which isn't "city driving" at all).

If you're never sure when it's full, there's no way to calculate MPG on one tank accurately. You have to fill up 3 or 4 times and average it.

I may have an odometer problem, I don't know. Seems to me it might be very inconsistent if so. I put on about 75 miles after posting this and a lot of less than a mile stopping, turning engine off, restarting and doing that again, shopping, in about a 1/3rd of that. My mileage went to 10MPG. My fuel gauge went to full again after filling up after this. So I'm confused about what could be happening here.

My S-10 said it was 10.5 miles one way to work. Silverado says its 12.5. Both have the tires & wheels that manufacturer put on them. It is city driving, but not lights every block or so. I have a one 4 mile stretch in which its possible NOT to hit a light, and 2 other stretches of 2 miles in which this is also possible, though not likely. Thats why I said "mostly" city driving. I hadn't gone anywhere else when I measured this.

I went on another trip up the Gorge yesterday, and I believe now have filled 3 times since the thing would not go all the way to full. Each time since that time, it has. I got 20.5 on the Gorge trip, almost all highway, but also half a dozen stops and engine starts through little burgs.