civic fuel gauge less reliable in winter

Im startign to see this in my 2004 again. It falls fairly quickly to
"half"
in a hundred miles, sits there for a while and falls to empty quickly.
The trip odometer is more accurate (350 miles per tank in winter,
400 in summer).

 

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Winter fuel (if you have it in your region) _is less efficient_ so your
mileage per gallon will decrease. Is that what you're saying?

'Curly'

 

No, the guge moves more sporadically in cold weather.
I relaize that (1) ethonal, (2) cold engine, and (3) less country
driving
cut winter mileage.

 

I also see my fuel gage fall more quickly in colder months,
even though the mileage often stays the same. I keep an eye
for gasoline "adjusted" for winter. But I also think part of
the explanation is that in summer, cool gasoline is pumped
from underground into one's gas tank. Then it heats up and
so expands. This keeps the fuel gage reading higher,
compared to cold months, for awhile.

 

I've been recently noticing the same behaviour in my '04 Civic LX regardless
of the weather. And I just found a TSB about it on the EBSCO online
database, something to do with incorrect software specifications. The
solution is to replace the fuel gauge assembly. This applies to Civics with
the "Visteon" gauge assembly.

http://search.ebscohost.com/

User ID: lib
Password: access

Click on "Auto Repair Reference Center"
Select your year, make, model and trim level.
Click on "Service Bulletins and Recalls"
Click on "Fuel Sys, Driveability, Filters (Air & Fuel)"
Click on "INACCURATE FUEL GAUGE READING" to open a .pdf file with the TSB.

Looks like I'll be making an appointment with the dealer, and hopefully they
won't have to keep it and drive too long to see the symptoms themselves.

 

Fuel gages are only an indicator, no gospel by any means. Readings will
vary from car to car etc.

They can be notoriously inaccurate.

JT