really stupid question lol
 

ok so i have a 1998 z28, and i actually ran out of gasonetime when i first bought the car, becuase the previous owner told me the gauge was innacurate when it really was........when i get low on gas, is my check gauges light suposed to come on? the only time it was ever on was when my coolant level sensor somehow popped off and my car started to run hot from no coolant

yes it should come on when you have about 2 gallons of gas left.

The gauge is a lil screwey.
On a full tank to half tank, the needle is fine. After 1/2 to 1/4 and less I'm just thinking "look at those terrible mpgs".

But stop trying to make the light come on or you 'll be looking for a "how to swap fuel pumps" thread.

You have a 1998, there is not a gas (check guages) light on this year.

^ what he said.. mine does the same thing, 1st half i get lke 50 mpg... last half I get 8.... normal gauge if you ask me...

lol i "DO" have a check gauges light, but are you saying that being low on gas will not make the light come on with the 98s?

yea no my gauge works perfectly.....i tend to get 60 miles until itbegins to drop off F, then after 125-130 im on 3/4, doing highway ill see half around 200, then 1/4 around 240

same here 97 z28 i will get 150-165 on the first 1/4 then about another 60-75 on the rest never ran it below a 1/4 but was told by the previous owner i have about 2 miles left when it hits E

I chuckled when I read that :)

Seriously though I get the same deal with mine. Not the most accurate gauge but it serves its purpose...though I've never seen the light come on I rarely let the needle fall below a quarter of a tank. But I think that's just my OCD'ness kicking in giving me this weird feeling that the gas at the bottom of the tank may not be the cleanest...

don't let the tank get less than 1/4 full unless you are in the ghetto and filling up gas is a life/death situation.

next time you fill up your tank to the top, take the gas needle off and place it back on where its supposed to be...on the F hash mark.

i did that it is almost accurate to our tank. 3-4 gallons to the first hash mark, middle hash=7-8 3rd hashmark is 11-12 and when you hit the last hashmark you are dead in the road although i haven't gotten it to that point...i fill up when it hits the halfway hash



wheres your pump get the fuel from? top of tank or bottom of tank?

I'm guessing the bottom if it's super low?

lol where did you guys get i said my gauge is off? lol i just asked if mycheck gauges light was supoosed to come on when low...my gauge is a ok

Just because the car was shipped from the Factory with the Check Gauge's light built into the gauge cluster doesn't mean it was tied to the fuel gauge. My 2000 v6 had the Traction Control Light on the Cluster but she didn't have traction control and it lit up when I turned the key to on.

But, as everyone else says running below a quarter of a tank is really bad cause the pump begins to pick up all the crap in the bottom of the tank, and I have heard it also overworks the fuel pump.

My OCD always tells me that 1/2 tank is actually E and thus I fill or add gas when i'm on "E" aka 1/2 tank haha.

My mood is definitely affected by the level of gas in my 98 SS.

I believe the reason for that rate change on the gauge is due to the shape of the tank. the sending unit measures the level in a "linear" way, yet due to the shape of the tank, there is more volume towards the top of the range, and less volume closer to the bottom, therefore the gauge will drop faster as the tank empties. Atleast thats what i think is happening.

Being that I've got 152,000 miles on my 98Z,needless to say,I've filled it many times. Over the course of time when filling,I kept track of needle position(before filling and from driver view) versus now many gallons required to fill(by gas nozzle auto shutoff). My data sheet has 76 entries,took those entries and plotted on a graph.

With the gauge needle at a position,here's what I came up with.

needle position vs. gallons to fill
0=14.2
1/16=13.7
1/8=12.9
3/16=12.3
1/4=11.6
5/16=10.9
3/8=10.2
7/16=9.5
1/2=8.8
9/16=8.2
5/8=7.5
11/16=6.8
3/4=6.1
13/16=5.4
7/8=4.7
15/16=4.1
needle directly on full=3.3

for my tank
0 to 1/2=5.4 gallons
1/2 to full needle=5.5 gallons
gas available before needle drops directly above full mark=3.3 gallons

I travel a lot,so knowing exactly how much gas I got and knowing my mpg,how far can I safely travel without being in danger of runnig out of gas.