1998 Dodge Durango Gas

ELIZDANMAT15

MEMBER
1998 DODGE DURANGO
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
13,000 MILES

Hi I put some gas in it this morning. It read 77 miles when I put 10.00 in it. I was driving home from work and it read 44 and then all of a sudden it read 4miles on the miles to empty reader. I think I went another 100 yards and it read 0. I pulled into my driveway and shut the car off. I just went out to start it and it read 22 miles to empty. Im not sure if there is something wrong or if I got bad gas? Any suggestions? Thank you Charlene Williams

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

What would you have done if your car didn't have the traveler computer? What does the fuel gauge read? Bad gas doesn't change how much you put in. You could put in racing fuel, (or water for that matter), and it wouldn't change how much you put in.

If the fuel gauge reads empty, suspect a problem with the sending unit in the tank. This is actually quite common, and there's a cheap fix for it. As proof, put more fuel in the tank. The clue here is you only put in 10 bucks worth. This problem usually shows up between a quarter and half tank. The wiper on the float arm of the sending unit is making poor contact. Once the assembly is removed from the tank, the arm can be easily popped off and the contact can be bent slightly to put more pressure on it.

Usually people say the gauge reads correctly as the level drops from full to half, then it drops to empty until the actual level drops to a quarter tank, then it reads fine again from quarter to empty.

The traveler computer uses the reading from the sending unit to calculate the distance to empty so if the gauge reads wrong, the distance to empty will be wrong too.

Caradiodoc