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Low Fuel Light


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We all know the problem with our gas gauge, and i've run my car down to below E and I end up having 3 or 4 gallons left. However, one night I was on E and kept running the car, as I was pulling into my development, the car started slowly dying and you could tell it was running on fumes, but my gas light didn't go on. I've also ran it down close to that before, and still no gas light. Is there anyway to fix it so the light comes on? Or am I just screwed as far as knowing completely when im about to run out of gas? The Oil light and all the other gauge cluster lights work, just no low fuel light.
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the gauge works off of resistance, as the float lowers the signal travels through more wire which creates more resistance. (the fact that there are two sending units , one on each side of the fuel tank since it straddles the drive shaft.)

 

the low fuel light works differently. i think, it is a thermo-sister or something like that. the fuel in the tank keeps the sender cool. when the fuel level drops low enough, it uncovers the whatever it is and it heats up and sends a signal to the dash. kind of like the temp sensor for the coolant gauge.

 

replacing the passenger side sending unit will probably correct the low fuel light. but because there are 2 sending units it probably won't correct the gauge reading E when you have only used 10 -12 gals. if you replace both sending units there is a better chance of correcting the gauge, but only if the units you install are good. and since the the bad gas gauge is so prevalent the chances of finding a good used sending unit are pretty slim.

 

there is some evidence to suggest that letting the senders sit in the ''air'' instead of submerged in the fuel ages these things. but i don't really know.

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  • 9 months later...
Bump. I currently work at a Subaru Dealership and we get a discount on service, think its worth getting both sending units fixed? I just recently thought I had the 4 or so gallons left when it was on E, but my car has now basically run out of gas. I just figured i'd ask whether it be real expensive and worth it, since im sending the suby in for some much needed repairs.
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Lol I have this problem too. I swapped one of the other lights that work in the cluster to that location, that didn't help (the light worked in the other location) but I noticed that the bulb has gray plastic and the others are brown. On the cluster, GRY and some numbers are next to the spot for the low fuel light. Is this a specific different type of bulb?

 

I also noticed I have another problem, something to do with being cheap and a procrastinator lol.

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  • I Donated
Anybody know a part number for this bulb? I asked once at the local auto store and they said I would have to get that from subaru.

 

You can buy the bulb at any auto parts store. Most gauge cluster lights don't show up in anyones catalog. You just have to take the actual bulb in and match it up.

-broknindarkagain

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My fuel sending units are broken so my fuel gauge doesn't work either, but my fuel light comes on when I have 2.5 gallons of gas left. It's about $80-90 or more per sending unit so I just just use my trip odometer. I can spend $200 on something else for my leggy.
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I've killed my gas warning light... After about 9 months of relying on it to tell me when I've got 40 or so miles to go on gas.. I have to guess how many miles I can go according to how much gas I put in (after I've pretty much run the car down on gas completely) and then wait until I feel the car almost stall from fuel starvation when I make left turns from a stop to know that I've got less than 5 miles to go until I'm out of gas.
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