Low fuel reading even when fuel is there

[jamjar]

Hi, My car while driving home came up with a low fuel notification on a range showing 16 miles. As I was near a petrol station I filled up with £15 of petrol but fuel gauge showed no change in reading. When I reached home it showed a range of 9 miles. What could be the problem & would it be safe to drive half a mile to my dealer when it opens in the morning or is there a risk of damage & should I get it recovered by the AA?

[Kremmen]

On Civics there is a lower limit where the fuel gauge is known not to move after a small amount has been put in. But, I would have thought £15, 10 litres, would be over that limit.

Our fuel tanks, due to the magic seats, aren't box shaped but are quite flat, cover a larger area under the front seats so small amounts are often not recognised.

For me, my first ploy would be to put more in.

[IanG]

Do you use the Honda app, as this also shows fuel level and remaining miles?
Be interesting to see if this corresponds to the level shown by the car’s fuel gauge/miles remaining indicator.

[Nicksey]

I have had a few instances when adding fuel to the tank and the fuel bars have not gone up, nor the miles available haven't changed either.... but later they jump up, sometimes after a day.
I realise the miles available indicator is calculated on the last mileage average, but the fuel bars indicator I would have thought was an immediate response. I always keep the tank full, and generally fill up after two bars have dropped.. which equates to approx £15, so not a small amount of fuel.

[jamjar]

Do you use the Honda app, as this also shows fuel level and remaining miles?
Be interesting to see if this corresponds to the level shown by the car’s fuel gauge/miles remaining indicator.

Yes, I use the app & it shows the same mileage as the car’s gauge.

[JJazz]

Hi, My car while driving home came up with a low fuel notification on a range showing 16 miles. As I was near a petrol station I filled up with £15 of petrol but fuel gauge showed no change in reading. When I reached home it showed a range of 9 miles. What could be the problem & would it be safe to drive half a mile to my dealer when it opens in the morning or is there a risk of damage & should I get it recovered by the AA?

I topped up £10 of petrol when I was changing over cars and it didn’t register either so just add more petrol.

[Lord Voltermore]

When I had a loan Civic  I planned to drive about 60 miles  ,and the car showed remaining range  about 60 miles.    Mid trip I topped up with 5 litres which would  mean returning it to how I found it .  But the fuel gauge /range  did not reset and  on return to the dealership the car showed   only 9 miles range.     I knew it had more fuel than that  but the next user  may assume its running on fumes, and rush to top it up.
The same probably happens to the Jazz.

By extension   if  several drivers have each  added a small amount of fuel insufficient to reset the gauges, but slightly more than they actually used,  maybe in reality  the tank is almost full! 

[Bristol_Crosstar]

I would say if you know you've put fuel in don't worry what the gauge says as you know it must be wrong.

Since I had the recall work done which I believe included a software upgrade my mpg figures and range have changed. After filling up my "miles done" plus calculated range would be between 500 and 550 miles with an mpg 60-70. Since the change my mpg is showing around upper 50's but the range has got longer, the two figures mentioned now adding up to around 600. The range is now obviously too high, the mpg figure may be partly due to the colder weather but I don't remember it being that low last winter so it's a bit of a mystery.

[peteo48]

This almost like a range anxiety thread concerning EVs.

That said, I have had a similar experience on a 2007 Honda Civic. It was very low on fuel so I put £5 in (cheapskate ) as I drove it to the dealer to part ex for my first Jazz. The fuel gauge didn't register and, in those days, £5 wasn't far short of a gallon.

[John Ratsey]

The handbook states that the low fuel indicator comes on when there's about 5.3 litres remaining in the tank.

I once ran my Crosstar at least 10 miles with zero miles remaining on the gauge and then managed to put 37.66 litres into the tank including whatever fills the filler pipe. Honda doesn't want its vehicles stopped by the side of the road because they have run out of fuel but I've found that miles remaining reported by the Mk 4 Jazz to be less conservative than previous models. I think this is because there's less need to allow for being stuck in an enormous traffic jam where the mpg falls through the floor.

[Lord Voltermore]

I still tend to refuel the old fashioned way, when its down to a quarter full, 'whether it needs it or not' . Unless there is a compelling reason to delay  such as holding out for  a country or location where I know  fuel is definitely available and significantly cheaper.     But I often find that although the range indicator may show I should easily make it when there is about 100 miles left to travel  the  estimate drops rapidly towards the end. I then become anxious we wont make it after all.   I know we probably will,  but having to ignore the computer and rely on hope   kind of defeats the object. 

I can trace the origins of this anxiety to my 16th Birthday when I rode my Honda 50 motorbike for the first time.  I went out without money confident that if I ran out of petrol I could switch to reserve to get home.  (not that it would have helped much as we lived miles from a petrol station  )  Sure enough I ran out, only to find the fuel tap had been set to reserve all along and I had none left.    I had to push the bike for miles to a filling station then persuade the attendant to let me  have  half a gallon with my watch as security for the 3 shilling debt .  Never again.  Well except that time I ran out of petrol on the M26 because I was anxious to get  my wife and baby home and thought we would make it. 15 miles short..  (baby in the bike top box - only kidding it was a car. They really guzzled petrol in those days. Cars not babies)   Luckily there was a local filling station in sight just over the fence  ,quickly sorted. Never again  - really.

[Jazzik]

I once ran my Crosstar at least 10 miles with zero miles remaining on the gauge and then managed to put 37.66 litres into the tank including whatever fills the filler pipe.

First refueling after delivery:
30.08.2021   38,50 ltr.
   

[Lincolnshire Rambler]

I tend to find if I refuel when the low warning flashes up I can put in between 33 and 35 litres until the pump clicks stop

[Whiteshark]

Always tend to just fill up at half tank, so never really experience a problem.

[Kremmen]

Same here, always top up at about half a tank.

You never know if you need to make a lengthy journey at short notice or we get a fuel issue causing long queues.

Just like to know I'm fuelled up and ready.