Help! Another fuel guage issue 01 Z06 38,500 miles

[Dad2BJO]

I already did a search on the forum for this and came up with several posts regarding Techron fuel additive. I will give that a whirl but here is what the issue is:

Fuel guage will go to E all of a sudden and check guages light will come on. Took to dealer and they reset the codes (I do not have a scan tool but now thinking I could have paid for one, read on).

Next time I drove, it did the same thing after 50 miles. This time dealer said it was a pump and sending unit. $800+ to fix.

50 miles and again, did the same thing. Dealer has no idea what problem is and reset code, traced all the wires and could not find anything and of course did it again. I also had an AC issue that the same dealer wanted to charge me $1100 to "possibly" fix with an actuator however indicated that "may" not be the problem..... hmmmm, this leads me to belive they really have no clue what the fuel problem is as well. Again car is an 01 Z06 with 38.5K on the clock. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Best Vette Yet]

I already did a search on the forum for this and came up with several posts regarding Techron fuel additive. I will give that a whirl but here is what the issue is:

Fuel guage will go to E all of a sudden and check guages light will come on. Took to dealer and they reset the codes (I do not have a scan tool but now thinking I could have paid for one, read on).

Next time I drove, it did the same thing after 50 miles. This time dealer said it was a pump and sending unit. $800+ to fix.

50 miles and again, did the same thing. Dealer has no idea what problem is and reset code, traced all the wires and could not find anything and of course did it again. I also had an AC issue that the same dealer wanted to charge me $1100 to "possibly" fix with an actuator however indicated that "may" not be the problem..... hmmmm, this leads me to belive they really have no clue what the fuel problem is as well. Again car is an 01 Z06 with 38.5K on the clock. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

This issue may occur when you still have 6 or so gallons in the tank. The sensors need to be replaced as per quote; there are two tanks, one behind each seat. The DIC codes will tell you which sensor, left, right or both, need to be replaced. This occurs when inferior grade fuel is used or fuel without techron and the car stands for long periods of time; corrosion of the sensors takes place. This is a very expensive fix and is labor intensive. First try a couple of tanks of gas with techron as an additive and see if it will "free up" the fuel sensors. If this does not fix your issue, you will have to have the fuel sensors replaced. Hope this info helps; I have had this issue twice.

 

[Huskerman]

Had the same thing happen to my 02 the other day. Toms01 told me to dump in a can of SeaFoam in the next tank and let it sit a few days. Techron is good also but I don't know where to get it. I did the SeaFoam thing and put on 300 miles this weekend with no problems. Tom says to put a can in every so often to keep um clean. I guess its a common C5 problem...hope that works....87K on mine....Stealership should know that shit.........idiots.....

 

[Junkman2008]

... I guess its a common C5 problem...hope that works....87K on mine....Stealership should know that shit.........idiots.....

It's a VERY common problem. To the OP, your dealership employs some complete morons. If you had thoroughly searched this problem, you would have found countless threads on this issue, and you would have probably been out of about $30 at this point. My gauges started acting up at 35,000 miles. I have ALWAYS used nothing but top tier fuel and 93 octane at that. The problem still occurred.

I started using TechronPLUS additive and that caused the issue to go away. It would reoccur only every blue moon. Once when on a trip, I couldn't find any TechronPLUS so I used some Gumout Fuel Injection Cleaner (it doesn't matter which one, they are all excellent and remedy this problem). From that point (around 80K miles), I have never had another issue. I am now at 133,000 miles and my fuel gauge is working perfectly. Even if I allow the tank to run down to the warning message of reserve fuel, the gauge still works (I did that on purpose just to test the gauge a few times). The Gumout product is a LOT cheaper than TechronPLUS and works faster AND better than TechronPLUS. I drop a bottle of that stuff in the tank every 3-4 complete fill-ups. That fix my friend, is a LOT cheaper than what you paid that stealership and those incompetent boobs. If I were you, I would never step foot in that place again.

Now what's up with your AC? Let me guess... it blows cold on one side and hot on the other? They think it needs an actuator? Bullcrap. I know exactly what is wrong with your AC. You and I have the same year car and I have fixed mine. The actuators SELDOM go bad in our year and later cars because they have been redesigned from the previous years that did experience a problem. The air is so cold in my car now that it can give me a headache if I leave it on too long. I even did a writeup about it here.