Ben/A.W.E.

I started my car to go to lunch. I parked on a hill, so the gauge was reading a little low. I drove to get lunch and let the car idle outside (someone was sitting in it) When I got back, the range display was going up to 45 the dropping down in 5 mile increment, got all the way down to 5, jumped back up to 25, and finally fell to zero and stayed there. This was all while the car was idling on a flat surface. Anyone know WHY this might have happened?

JWG

Bizzare--sounds like a gas level sensor feeding computer bad data; clogged or loose in tank???

DAP@EPL

The fuel sender is screwed up. I just mentioned it last time I was in for service and they promply replaced it.

Must have been a common problem because I didn't get the "We couldn't duplicated the problem" or "It's within spec" answers.

-Dave Pramanik

xr4tic

or it sounds like the tripmeter lost one of the inputs, or had a bad connection. It uses the gas gauge level and current fuel consumption to determine how many miles left in the tank, according to your current driving situation (city, highway, etc)
If one of the inputs was disconnected or flaky, it could give funky readings. I guess maybe it could be a bad spot on the gas level sender, sending out funky readings.
What was the gas gauge doing at the time? Does it work now?

Silver Streakin'

I do believe that she's experience a problem with the sensor that is in the tank with the fuel pump.

Ben/A.W.E.

I don't know.. just drove the car to lunch..Guess I'll check it out when I fill up again after work

IronMike

You need to replace three fuel sending units. It's been a problem since the first A4s.