VZ Fuel gauge and computer

[Tuttle]

got myself a VZ acclaim 6 months ago and ever since my fuel gauge has been showing empty after just 500kms.

Based on a 75L tank and a consumption of 11.5l/100km i should be getting over 600 km but am only getting 500 or so before both my gauge and "distance to go" computer tells me i am empty and have 0km left.

Is anyone else had this problem or know what i can do about it?

[JonnyVZ]

Yeah mate, I have the same problem, I have a VZ Executive 04.

I've done some reading on it, and it is extremely common.

Did it to me this afternoon infact, I know this morning it had a good 1/3rd of a tank in it, as soon as I started it up, got the low fuel emergency warning, and it went on for around 2-3 minutes longer, then magically the Fuel dial started lifting.

[BANKS]

Welcome to crap holden fuel gauges

[Tuttle]

yeh i get the same problem once it gets below 1/4

the computer also tells me that it has ero km to go but if u turn the car off and on again it will tell me 55km.

is there anyway of resetting the gauge or computer or sensor in the tank. ie calibrating it when u know how much fuel really is in there

[TVS]

Ah this is nice to know, we just got our VZ and I thought jeez this thing must suck on fuel. So what sort of k's should we comfortably get around town out of a tank in these things?

[Tuttle]

i've only been getting about 500km at a consumption of about 11.5l/100km but if u calculate how much u should get out of a 75L at the 11.5 consumption then it should be more like 600km.

for the last few months i have been driving with the computer telling me i have zero km to go and i still manage 50 km out of it but i dont know how far i can push it

[BANKS]

i've only been getting about 500km at a consumption of about 11.5l/100km but if u calculate how much u should get out of a 75L at the 11.5 consumption then it should be more like 600km.

for the last few months i have been driving with the computer telling me i have zero km to go and i still manage 50 km out of it but i dont know how far i can push it

I've done the same thing. Driven 100k's after the comp said zero, ran out of fuel, but as i planned to do this i had a jerry can in the tray ready to go

From what i can gather holden must have programed it to actually display less km's left to:

a). prevent you from running out of fuel and,
b). prevent you from picking up all the crap at the bottom of the tank

only logical thing i could think of. Unless the tank doesnt actually carry 75lts...

[Tuttle]

yeh that was my thoughts only that my old mans car is a VZ Wagon and he still gets nearly 600 kms out of it around the city. thats y i thought there might have been something wrong with my tank sensor or something

[Lumps of cheese]

lol, don't worry. I doubt there's a vz out there which gauge reads true. My ss can drive around town for a week with the light on.

[VZMAX]

i don know how you guys manage to get 11.5l/100 k around town. i cant get less than 14.5l/100k and that too driving like a granny... it was even worst before i had my exhaust on...

[danja]

Meh, I'd rather be told to fill up early, than run out of fuel the minute the light comes on.

All Commodores I've driven are like this, there's about 10-15L of fuel left when the dial hits empty. I factor about 100kms on top of the reported DTG as the actual figure.

[shakey]

I find mine pretty accurate. I have filled it up then driven around then filled it up again and done the litres per hundred calculation and its been the same as the trip computer. One thing, when the gauge is on red there is (presuming its working OK) about 10-15 litres left, this seems like a bit of fuel but with my own experience in this car its not. I read once newer cars with electronic fuel pumps should have minimum 20-25l of fuel to run at optimum. I fill up well before the red line now.

[Troy711]

VZ Fuel Gauge Problem

[andyman]

there is a tech 2 update to fix the fluctuation problems in the fuel gauge, if its under a form of warranty, go and get it updated

[plane driver]

I did the run out of fuel deliberately trick to see how far it would go after the computer said 0 Km to empty. I got at least another 100. I then put a known quantity of near enough to 5 litres exactly in then drove about 10km to a servo and put 73.61 litres in (I keep a small log book of cost and quantity of fuel for all my vehicles). So accounting for the approx 1 litre that it used after I put the 5 in and drove to the servo I managed to get about 77 or so litres in. I dribbled the last couple of litres in past the nozzle cutting off the first time.

I got 720 km out of that tank to dry. That was mostly metro area driving - not city stop/start though. On an average country trip with the cruise control set to about 110 it averages 8.5/100.

You may notice that because of where the fuel gauge sender is located there is a significant variation in how much it reads depending on the angle of the vehicle - nose low it reads high, nose high it reads low. And the less amount of fuel onboard the greater the variation.
For example, where I live to go most anywhere that I normally go I need to go up a fairly steep hill after travelling about 100 metres from my drive. So with the car parked facing the street it is facing slightly downhill and the gauge will say just over a quarter full, by the time I have travelled 300-400 metres halfway up the hill it has gone to just about empty but comes back up when I get to the top and level out.