I just got my car back from having a new A/C compressor put in and now the gas needle stays on empty and DIC displays RANGE but does not display any miles and after awhile it will say LOW and still will not display any MILES all other gauges work in the DIC, I am wondering when the mechanic had a issue with the high speed fan not coming on if he might have loosened something else up all he did was check and wiggle connections and some how got the high speed fans to work again. I always run top tier gas and do the techron occasionally any suggestion as to what to do I really need the gas gauge to work properly. When ever I had the gas gauge problem before it would always display some miles on it.

thanks in advance

 

Don't see how replacing an A/C compressor would affect the DIC readings or your fuel gauge, but you might want to check back with the mechanic and see just what he did to the car.

 

Run all the codes in the DIC, reset all codes, and see if that helps.

 

Thanks Bill Vett I did what you suggested and it is back to normal I always find great advice from everyone here..

thanks members for all the help

 

Glad it worked for you Sometimes when the battery is disconnected you get a glitch. The "loss of communication codes" 1016,1064,1096 seem to set something off.

 

I think you have two unrelated incidents and that it's just coincidence that you had fuel gauge issues when the guys were working the other problem.

The fuel gauge problem is common. The symptoms can vary from dropping off to zero to incorrect readings. The first time I saw it, my gauge went to 3/4 and only slowly recovered to Full after I refuelled. If your gauge ran to zero, the computer thinks its empty and cannot compute range to go.

It's caused by sulfur deposits from the gas fouling the small pick offs on the fuel tank senders. This results in voltage spikes on the fuel level signal to the PCM which in turn gives a bad reading.

Here's a picture of the sender and you can see how easily it could be fouled.



The senders can often begin to play up if you let the fuel drop very low. The fuel in the two tanks equalizes when you turn the car off. If you run low one or both of the senders can be operating in air and not submerged. Often just filling the tank and covering the senders in fuel can make the gauge work again.

The known fixes for the gas gauge are:

Running Techron through the system which, if the fouling is not too bad, will clean off the deposits from the sender.

Replacing the fuel sender(s).

There is also a TSB which reflashes the PCM with new fuel settings.

Like Bill Vett, I always suggest resetting the codes when you have a fuel DTC. Not sure why but it does seem to help. That also may be coincidence.

I would run a few more bottles of Techron through the system as a precaution. If it cleared straight away, the sensor fouling is probably not bad (maybe because you used Techron in the past) so you'll reverse the build up on the senders.

I'd also change your gas station for a while even though you use a Top Tier gas. If possible switch to a gas station which has an additive such as Chevron or Shell. All gas suppliers use different additives so a change will help.

Just my 0.02c

 

I had the same gauge problems, Techron cured it!

 

Great advice and pictures I will take all this advice and bookmark it if needed in the future thanks so much for chiming in.

 

I always used Texaco or Chevron for the Techron but they went out of business in my area and Sunoco took over. Do they have any additives in their gas? Just curious.