Car people help!

[JennSLK]

So I drive a 2004 sunfire. Love/hate relationship with it lol. About 140,000 km on it.

My car has dial gages not digital. So I went to work this morning my tank was just over 3/4 full. After work I started it and let it run about 15 min. Really didn't pay attention to the Gage's. I went and got into my car and noticed my gas gage was about a finger width over full. In my brilliance (sarcasm) I shut the car off and started it again. The dial went even farther over full. It is now pointing strait down. It basically went over full and all the way down.

My odometer is digital and the light burnt out when the car was only about 2 years old. I have never bothered fixing it because they have to take the entire dash apart which is hours of work and a crap load of money in labour.

WTF is wrong with my car? All I am seeing I $ signs to fix this. I told my mom and she just shrugged and said well just get it fixed. I can't afford to "just get it fixed". I spent $600 6 weeks ago for new brakes. The quote to tear the dash apart was $1200. So if they have to do that to fix the dial then it will be around $1200. I can't just pull that kind of money out if my @ss. I live in a medium sized town with NO public transportation. We don't even have a greyhound. No busses just a taxi service. I can't afford a new car or even used. I'm at my max for bills as it is.

This is doing wonders for my anxiety.

 

[noludoru]

No idea what's wrong, but use your trip memory. Fill up every 300 miles.

 

[RedHotDobe]

^Yeah, that. Before I replaced my fuel pump, my gauge wouldn't read anything other than empty sometimes. I think the float was just getting stuck on the old housing. I just used my trip meter to keep track of how far I'd driven. Not a big deal.

 

[JennSLK]

I have no trip meter. The light behind my odometer is burnt out.

 

[Beanie]

My gas gauge started behaving awkwardly last night as well. Was almost empty and on my way to fill up, sitting at a stop light on an incline so theoretically the gauge should be reading lower than actual... and suddenly the gauge just started going up toward full. I sat there at the light and watched it move like somebody was filling the tank. By the time I got to the station about a mile away it had gone back down toward less than a quarter of a tank, back to the point where my fuel light should have been coming back on, but it never came on. I put almost 16 gallons in it so I know it was actually almost empty... it read appropriately full after I got back in the car. Maybe it was some random fluke. But I'm not excited about that. I haven't mentioned it to my dad. I'm about to just set the car on fire. I am planning on watching my trip meter as well just in case.

I'm not really sure what to do really. I mean, it's a Sunfire. We're a GM family over here but the Sunfire is pretty much a POS. My friend had one and about two years ago just once thing after another started going wrong. She fixed it a time or two but then ended up having to junk it out and get another car. You can't get it fixed or replace it, but the gas gauge doesn't work and the odometer doesn't work... I guess you could just fill up on the same day every week? I don't know how far you often drive, if once a week will do the job or not. But you'll just have to make sure you keep it full so you don't end up stuck somewhere...

As for what's wrong, could be a handful of things off the top of my head... the gauge itself, the fuel pump could be about to die (hope it's not a catastrophic failure or your car will be dead until you replace that), the floater in the tank, the chip in the tank that talks to the BCM, or the BCM itself.

Can you take it somewhere for diagnostics and at least see what they say is wrong?

 

[JennSLK]

Yeah our mechanic is my dads hunting buddy so I'm going to go see him tomorrow. I'm just starting to be able to float $ wise and now this. It was a shitty day at work and then this. I haven't gone anywhere today so vibes that when I do it was just a fluke and its better now.

 

[Samantha's pet]

If its not hindering the performance or safety of the vehicle I wouldn't worry about it right now. I drove for years with a broken gas gage. When you fill up just write your mileage on the receipt and put it in the console. Fill up every 275-300 miles.