Civic Fuel Indicator Light Not On (no light)

[rolandhoo]

hi all sifus,

recently my ej7's fuel indicator light will not light up when the patrol is nearly finished. there was a time i didn't notice it and kept driving till the car run out of petrol....damn, went and bought the petrol and put into a plastic bottle, quickly poured it into the fuel tank, then started the engine again, phiew...... back to life again. how embarrasing...... :embaressed_smile:

before i go to the workshop and fix this problem, i would like to know what are the areas that i should pay attention to? where is the problem? can anyone advise me?

by the way, when the fuel indicator lights up, how many litre of petrol is left in the tank? or roughly how many km we can go before stopping at the petrol station for filling?

thanks in advance!

 

[shiroitenshi]

if the fuel level meter is working
check the bulb at the dash..

distance when it light up, depends on car and driver.

The full tank is about 45litres for most civics. I wouldn't trust the meter though, it's not that accurate.

 

[rolandhoo]

i suppose i should go to the car accessories shop to check the bulb? just would like to know how do they check the bulb? open up the dash meter or there is some kind of device (plug and check) to verify the problem?

just in case if the bulb is not the problem, then what should i check? is there some kind of electronic sensor (sense the feul level) inside the fuel tank?

 

[shiroitenshi]

They will open the dash and see. The clips are easy to break, so find a shop that mostly does honda, as they know how to pry open the clips without breaking them, as they actually remember where they are.

The fuel level sensor if it's not working, your meter will show E most of the time or fluctuating even when you drive on a flat road.

If it shows roughly the right amount of fuel, probably it's just the bulb.

The OBD-2 scanner checks a lot of things, but it can't detect a burnt out bulb.

 

[rolandhoo]

shiroitenshi,

The fuel meter shows the right amount of fuel, and I agree with you that if the meter is out of function it may always stays at E or something like that, but so far it still act accurately. So I guess it is the bulb that is giving me the problem.

Will try to find a shop that familiar with Honda car to check the problem. If they open up the dash, I might as well ask them to change 1 or 2 meter bulbs (orange color light) as it is not working when I switch on the light. I suppose these kind of bulbs do not cost much right?

You really provided much info to me. Thank you.