2000 Accord EX ran out of gas with 5 gallons left in tank

My daughter bought a 2000 Accord EX V6 on Saturday. She was driving on
the freeway yesterday and it died (the guage showed between E and 1/4
and the low fuel light hadn't come on). She called triple A and after a
2 hour wait they arrived, put in 1 gallon of gas and it started right
up. When she filled the tank it only took 11 gallons of gas. I'm new to
Honda's so I'm asking here if this may be a common problem. My guess is
a weak fuel pump or a semi-clogged filter but maybe you knowlegable
people have a different explanation of what it could be? I have a fuel
pressure tester but no specs on what it should read for this car. Any
help would be appreciated. The car was as-is so "take it back to the
dealer" would not be an appropriate answer. Thanks in advance.

 

No diagnostics performed. Car quit. Car started later. I don't see
that you have a gas problem just because you added gas. Could have
added oil and maybe get the same results. Did you leave something out
of your question? If not, could be all sorts of electrical things.
Simple to find, or not. Take it to the dealer or a Honda specialist.

 

About all you can do is keep driving it. Obviously be prepared when
it gets low again. If it consistently dies at the same point, it
would certainly seem to indicate a pump of filter problem. I assume
you have looked for any damage to the tank itself.

If it happens at different levels in the tank then you need to look
elsewhere. Good luck.

 

-------------------------

As Gordon mentioned, inspect the tank carefully for a dent, preventing
the sensor from falling to the bottom of it's stroke. Carry a gas can.
Run a bottle of injector cleaner thru that puppy anyhow . . Who knows if
it's been done lately.

'Curly'

 

The low fuel light might not work & the gauge also might be messed up.
Since she just got it, there are lots of possibilities, most of which
probably have something to do with why it was traded by the previous owner.

There could be some water in the tank. That would cause it to stop and
later restart as you described.

Look for any dents or obvious damage to the tank, then if you don't find
any, my next guess would be water in the tank or a clogged filter (which is
also in the tank on a 2000).

 

Exactly the same thing happened to me in my 98 civic. There was a huge dent
in the middle of the tank, meaning when I did highway driving, it would die
at about 1/4 tank. In the city I was fine, due to turning and whatnot all
the time, allowing the fuel to slosh around and make it into the pickup.

It got to the point where my car would be sputtering, and yet I could only
fit 33 litres into the tank (its a 46 litre tank). The dent was huge.

The dent was from something I smoked on the highway, and could not avoid
without putting my life in danger. sucks but what can ya do?

Hope this helps
t

 

I have heard of tanks deforming because the vent system is plugged. Sure
sounds like the tank is the problem.

 

Thanks all for your input. I finally got a chance to inspect the tank,
and sure enough the tank is pushed up about 4 inches and there is an
imprint of a floor jack in the bottom. Anyone have info on how to change
tanks?

 

Man that SUCKS! First thing to do would be to locate a good used one from a
wrecker. It will probably still be on the vehicle, so it will give you a
good opportunity to see how it comes off, and you can just use the reverse
logic to put it on.

I'm sure a Honda Shop manual would have better details on how to do this,
they are floating around for free on the net, or available for $50-80 on
different websites that sell books.

t

 

Too bad the car was just purchased--it would be satisfying to take it
back to the last schmuck that worked on it and have them replace the
tank they damaged through negligence. Oh well...

 

id see if theres a way to access the inside of the tank through the fuel
sending unit, and maybe push the dent out with a broom handle or wooden
dowel or something.

 

id see if theres a way to access the inside of the tank through the fuel
sending unit, and maybe push the dent out with a broom handle or wooden
dowel or something.

 

I would imagine that the schmuck is the previous owner.

 

Tanks for the great idea. I bought a used tank today from the local yard
(Johns auto parts http://www.johnsauto.com IMO the best parts supplier
in MN). It was only $45 off the shelf and like new. Your idea seems a
hell of a lot easier though. The damage is right where the "bread pan"
suction tray is spot welded to the inside/bottom of the tank so I'm
thinking there may be some damage to the pick-up tube, but I won't know
till I get it apart. That's a problem because my daughter loves the car
so much she won't stop driving it. I guess after that old 97 taurus she
had for three years (ex-taxi cab with 225,000 miles on it) driving this
car must seem like heaven to her.

 

She could always just learn to live with a smaller tank. Get her in the
habit of resetting the trip counter at every fill-up. She could use that as
a rough gauge, along with the existing gas gauge, to know when she is due
for a fill-up.