Ok,, my c6 vert has 3,200 miles,,
I left the car idling for about 20 minutes with the a/c on and when
i got into the car the dashboard read "service fuel system" and the fuel gauge went to empty,,, i drove a little while and the message went away and the gauge returned to normal,, 10 minutes later the same thing happened,, now every time i start the dashboard reads "service fuel system". and the fuel gauge sometimes goes to empty.
Anyone else hear of this problem??

thanx guys

joe

 

Hmmmm... My threw the exact same error late yesterday, and I called my dealer this morning. I was second C6 with that same problem already today. The tech said he was ordering parts and provided that I didn't run out of gas, it wasn't real serious. Oh, and BTW, I've only got 1200 miles on mine.

I'm wondering though, if you read the other thread about bad gas and ????, they talk about a poor electrical connection to the sender at the tank. Of course, with only 1200 miles, I'll let the dealer futz with it. Besides the dealership owner is my neighbor, and I think he'll take care of me so I don't besmirch his name around the neighborhood.

FWIW,
Jay

 

There is a thread on this.... appears to be the left tank fuel sending card.... apparently GM has a TSB on this but I have no experience with this failure.. call your dealer!

Gary

 

It's a simple fix. The dealer's are familar with the problem. The left tank will be removed and a new sending unit installed. Mine took about four hours.

 

Got to thank the folks in this group --
I was driving my new Vette waaaay up in the hills of Northern Califormia when this gremlin message came on. I thought I was toast: No Onstar, no cell connection. It was a nerve-racking two hour journey to Ashland Oregon. There I logged into the Corvette Forum, and read the threads on this problem. It turns out to be minor and fixable, but I would have stressed much more over the situation if folks here hadn't discussed it thoroughly.
FWIW, my Vette stops giving the message (and flipping the fuel gauge down to zero) when the gas tank goes below the half mark.

 

Mine did the same thing. Below half and all was fine. Since the sending unit was replaced I have had no problems.

 

Well, its not a simple fix but there is a fix for it. It's called an eratic fuel gauge.

It is caused by too much sulfer in the fuel I am told. And apparently it is messing with the sending card in the left fuel tank. I have had this problem since early April and finally got it fixed last week. Parts are the main issue for the delay.

The service tech had to drop the trans axle to get to the tank. There are some techs out there who have done a few of these and can do it with out dropping the trany. Chances are though that your dealer hasn't done one yet as was the case with my dealer.

Mine seems to be fixed now but I haven't put enough miles on it to be sure.

There are many posts on the "Eratic Fuel Gauge" problem. Even Fitchner Chevy has put out info on it in Ken's News Letters.

It's just one of those new car glitches. Now if I can only figure out my A/c problem!

SB

 

Nuttin to do with sulfur in the fuel. Does have to do with the faulty manufacture of the cards...

Rick

 

Agreed. My car has the problem, and every drop of fuel in it has been Chevron with Techron. If that's below the acceptable standard, Corvette owners are going to be having a hard time finding fuel.

 

I have the same problem it is not having to do with the fuel. I have had one of my senders replaced which did not fix the problem so I am waiting for the other sender to arrive so that they can replace that. The associated problem with this is also that the car runs rough at idle. I will see what happens after we replace this. In the meantime I cannot get fuel into my gas tank the fuel pump shuts off after about half a gallon. I tried a few stations and no it was not overly hot out. Any one else have this problem?

 

In addition the trans does not need to be removed. My tech told me the automatic is a bigger problem than the six speed but it does not need to be removed either. The new revised card will cure the problem. The dealers were replaceing the defective cards with another defective card early on because that's all they had.

 

Two weeks ago I took my C6 to the dealer to have the fuel sensor replaced and given a Chevelle to drive
The first problem the dealer encountered was the sensor came in with no seal (???) so they had to order that~then when they told me all was OK and car would be ready that evening they called bacl and said GM wanted to replace the entire gas tank-tank was being pulled off the assembly line in Bowling Green. Tank came in and they said it would be ready this evening and they called back-they must replace the fuel pump now. No such item to be found-there are apparently 6 dealers in US with these new pumps and none will let go of the part due to irrate customers like me dying for them. GM says they are back ordered and even the manufacturer says no go. What the hell is going on here??? All this for a simple sensor replacement?? Is my dealer lying (as I suspect) and goofing around with my car or does this sound legit? How can there be no fuel pumps?? Is the production line in Bowling Green down??? I told dealer I will be there Mon to get my car back-they can reassemble it and give it back or I will start the FL Lemon Law process since its been over 16 days of problem~Any help or suggestions?

 

Two weeks ago I took my C6 to the dealer to have the fuel sensor replaced and given a Chevelle to drive
The first problem the dealer encountered was the sensor came in with no seal (???) so they had to order that~then when they told me all was OK and car would be ready that evening they called back and said GM wanted to replace the entire gas tank-tank was being pulled off the assembly line in Bowling Green. Tank came in and they said it would be ready this evening and they called back-they must replace the fuel pump now. No such item to be found-there are apparently 6 dealers in US with these new pumps and none will let go of the part due to irrate customers like me dying for them. GM says they are back ordered and even the manufacturer says no go. What the hell is going on here??? All this for a simple sensor replacement?? Is my dealer lying (as I suspect) and goofing around with my car or does this sound legit? How can there be no fuel pumps?? Is the production line in Bowling Green down??? I told dealer I will be there Mon to get my car back-they can reassemble it and give it back or I will start the FL Lemon Law process since its been over 16 days of problem~Any help or suggestions?

 

I have had this same problem, but it only did it once. I was on my way to Vegas (yes it was hotter than hell). I stopped at a shell and got premium gas (that gimmicky v power stuff and everything). After leaving the gas station and merging onto I-15 the whole ordeal happened. Since this has not happened again, the service fuel system in the DIC, nor the service engine light, nor the erratic gauge, do I have a bad sending unit as well?? I have used 2 tanks of gas since it happened and no repeat. Is this related to heat or what???

 

I had the problem fixed last week. They replaced the sending cards in both tanks, not just the left. This was the first one this dealer did and it took about 5 hours. They did not have to drop the transmission. So far so good. Some people have said on this forum that the dealer is telling them its hard to get the replacement sending cards. I think thats dealer BS. My dealer ordered them and had them in 2 days.

 

I had this problem and it was fixed. It is the fuel sending unit in the left side of the tank. Go to your dealer and tell them to pull the bulletin. It took my dealer an entire day to fix, they drop the tank and replace the faulty unit.

 

My Vette has the same problem about 3/4 of the time. So I just have to jam the nozzle in and keep pulling the lever -- just the sort of hassle that made me give up American cars many years ago. I still love my Vette -- but the Japanese have it over us on reliability.

 

No..he probably isn't lying..I have one right now in my bay. The inner liner of the tank was made wrong. You can get the pump in but it will not come out. Have to order tank and pump...no stock available as of yesterday.

 

It looks like my first American car in 20 years has all the problems. The battery goes dead, I had it towed into the dealership at about 700 miles, a little over a month after I bought the car. The dealer said I don't shut the car down properly. 6 days later the fuel system problem started and the check engine light went on. I took it to the dealer with the light on and left the car. Three days later they said they will fix everything and they had no fuel sensors/sending units in stock and did not know when they would get one in, we will call you. Three months later they got a fuel sending unit in.

The transmission at times (more than 5%) does not shift into 1st gear without a lot of force. I also have problems with shifting into 3rd gear while accelerating onto the freeway. Dealer has never heard of this problem. The battery went dead about four times since and the car is now in the shop(8/23) for the battery, transmission and fuel pump problems. Dealer cannot replicate the battery or trans problem so there is no problem, but very angry and fustrated owner. The dealer said I should either buy a new battery (They refused to put one in even after G.M asked) or hook it to a tender. They did suggest that I leave the car for 2 weeks and they would then see if the battery was dead. They got a fuel unit in but it failed when installed. Then he notified me there were a total of 200 for all the 2005 vettes in the USA and one was mine but they had no idea when it would come in. Car is still sitting on the lift with the gas tank on the ground. So far its has been at the dealership for a total of 10 days with no end in sight. I hope no other Vette owners have the experience that I have had. Can you smell a LEMON. Have already started a file with G.M. and will go the Lemon law route.

I forgot to add that the tech broke the original sending unit when he removed it from the tank so they could not replace the old one and the car will sit at the dealer for another two weeks.

 

Okay, so I've lurked for awhile and I was hoping to have something more valuable than THIS to offer, especially since it's my first post. Unfortunately, this is it:

First of all, WHAT A GREAT SITE!!! Kudos to the administrators AND the members, for making it a worthwhile place to drop in on EVERY TIME.

I picked up my C6 on June 8 (Vic Red, Z51, Nav, 6spd MT, OnStar), after I sent back the black automatic (which I picked up in March). It's my first domestic since my 1980 Cutlass, after which I had a slew of imports. It's a Corvette dammit! I love this car, but...

I too, have problems getting it into 1st gear at the light. I heeded the advice on another post stating it would be easier to put it into 2nd first, then up to 1st, but sometimes I can't get it into second either. I'm hoping it's just that it's still new and has to be worked in, insofar as this problem is concerned. It IS embarrassing though, brand spanking new, shiny red Corvette, and the guy can't get it into gear = L-O-S-E-R!!!

As well, I too have problems with my 'Service Fuel System' light coming on. Over the past two months though (and it never happened on the black C6), I have realized that this happens ONLY after I fill up on Sunoco 94 octane. After fuelling up, the 'Service Fuel System' light comes on, and once the gauges have done their little show (where they go to MAX then return to actual - SO COOL!!!), the SFS light stays on and the fuel gauge goes to empty. The first time it happened, I dialled up OnStar, with the gauges still showing no fuel (but it was just filled) and the SFS light on. Their diagnostics check showed a 'Transmission Problem'(!!!), but no fuel system problem. I got out, thought I was unscrewing the gas filler cap (more on this to follow), thought I was screwing it back in, started 'er up again, and still...SFS, and no fuel. Left the station, fuel came up to half, then dropped to zero again. This happened for some time (fuel level showing zero then half then zero then full, etc.) but it eventually came to display a proper FULL reading.

After 1600km (roughly 900 miles), the problem persists, BUT only after a fill up. This time, I took the time to ensure the gas filler cap was screwed in tightly when I finished fuelling up and that it wasn't the fact that the filler cap was the reason for the SFS warning light. Guess what? I can't screw it in - it just turns and turns and never catches. I'm not mechanically oriented and therefore not familiar with the mechanism itself, but I did try pushing in on it through several rotations of the cap, but NO LUCK - it just won't catch!

I'm assuming, and therefore asking whether, this could be another cause of MY and other's SFS problem (besides the Fuel Sending Unit problem - which sounds like an even bigger job to fix). After awhile, the SFS light does go out and the fuel gauge reads properly (remarkably, at the same time), so I prefer to keep it out of my dealer's greasy little hands and put up with it FOR NOW (our Summers are too short in Toronto!). If it is, it's no wonder the domestics are taking a beating! This is a car with a HUGE amount of advanced testing and numerous accolades. Is this a classic case of a $0.99 part ruining a $72,000CAD experience, and causing people to switch to Imports? But it's a Corvette dammit! I love this car!!!

Whaddaya think?

Joe