August 17, 200916 yr ...though I'm leaning more toward me. On the Balt's last fill up, I might have have put a bit too much gas in her. (never had this issue in any other car) Now things are a bit screwed up. Even when It's full, it only shows 3/4. It also messed up the MPG and miles till empty too. I thought it might have fixed itself after gas today, but no such luck. Anybody else have this issue? I'm debating about unplugging the battery to reset it (hopefully), but I'm not sure....
August 18, 200916 yr ...though I'm leaning more toward me. On the Balt's last fill up, I might have have put a bit too much gas in her. (never had this issue in any other car) Now things are a bit screwed up. Even when It's full, it only shows 3/4. It also messed up the MPG and miles till empty too. I thought it might have fixed itself after gas today, but no such luck. Anybody else have this issue? I'm debating about unplugging the battery to reset it (hopefully), but I'm not sure.... Knowing how gas tanks get topped off by attendants here in NJ, overfills would be quite common and shouldn't harm anything. IIRC, you have an older Cobalt... 2005, maybe? Anyway, disconnecting the battery could help, but I can't think of a reason why the PCM/DIC would be involved... they don't calibrate the reading from the gas tank or anything. I would fear that the sending unit it being screwy, as it is usually just a submersed rheostat. Maybe you had gotten some bad gas or it sat for a bit and corrosion built up on the sending unit... perhaps causing it to stick at 3/4. Anyway, I would likely fill the tank... and drive over a bumpy road. Failing that, I'd get under the car and give the tank some percussive maintenance with a full tank. Hopefully the vibration will dislodge the hang up, cleaning up any corrosion that might be be holding it up. Otherwise, it might be require some tank work. Hopefully this will work out for you... I hate having a sticky fuel gauge.
August 18, 200916 yr Author Knowing how gas tanks get topped off by attendants here in NJ, overfills would be quite common and shouldn't harm anything. IIRC, you have an older Cobalt... 2005, maybe? Anyway, disconnecting the battery could help, but I can't think of a reason why the PCM/DIC would be involved... they don't calibrate the reading from the gas tank or anything. I would fear that the sending unit it being screwy, as it is usually just a submersed rheostat. Maybe you had gotten some bad gas or it sat for a bit and corrosion built up on the sending unit... perhaps causing it to stick at 3/4. Anyway, I would likely fill the tank... and drive over a bumpy road. Failing that, I'd get under the car and give the tank some percussive maintenance with a full tank. Hopefully the vibration will dislodge the hang up, cleaning up any corrosion that might be be holding it up. Otherwise, it might be require some tank work. Hopefully this will work out for you... I hate having a sticky fuel gauge. Some really great ideas there (stuff I can check out too) Thanks! I forgot to add that she is a 2006, if that might help.... Edited August 18, 200916 yr by daves87rs
September 15, 200916 yr Author I was curious, did any of these ideas fix the problem? Yep. Filled it up again with some 93 octane. Then ran it a bit to move that fuel. After about 5ish miles, everything was good again....
September 15, 200916 yr The other wierd thing about the Cobalt fuel gauge is that they really don't like to be shut off while rolling. A couple of times I've had the ABS warning light and restarted the car while rolling down the street - fuel gauge shows empty for about 24 hours before returning to normal.
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