Cause
Sunken or fuel-logged float
The fuel sender's float filled with fuel or perished, so it no longer floats. A sunken float reports empty regardless of the actual level, which is the safe direction for the driver and a nuisance for everybody else.
The reading is constant rather than erratic, which distinguishes it from a worn resistive track — that one is wrong over part of its range and correct elsewhere. Watch the reported level across a full refill: a value that never moves is the float, and one that jumps or sticks over a band is the track. Ethanol-blended fuel is hard on older float materials, which is why this appears on vehicles that were fine for years.
Typically a moderate job.
Codes this can cause (1)
Codes where this is a likely explanation first, rather than merely a possible one.
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Others who found this
Be the first to write this up
Nothing posted about this yet. Whatever you found is worth writing down — even a dead end saves someone the same afternoon.
What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
Sign in or create an account to add what you found about Sunken or fuel-logged float.