My daughter's '95 Saab 900 was running on empty last week so I attempted to fill it up with gas but the darn thing would only take a few gallons before the pump clicked off. I adjusted the pump thinking it was jammed in the tank incorrectly, but after several tries it was clear the gas pump was convinced my tank was filled to capacity, when in fact it had about a half-a-tank. The fuel gauge and the fuel range l.e.d display seem to be working fine. Any information you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry if this gets posted twice. I have a 95 Saab 900, which I just acquired. I can get only about 4 or 5 gallons in at a time. The best analysis I found was this one where the man pinpoints a stuck valve in the gas tank, and tells of what he did to address it.: http://www.quasimotors.com/9_5_gas_fill_prob.htm
Sometimes the fuel tank fuel level sending unit goes bad. You could have a full tank but the car believes it only has a little bit. The computer bases its range to empty based on information from the fuel sending unit. The onboard computer is probably fine but it probably providing faulty output data based on faulty input data from the sending unit.
Suggest trying a different gas pump nozzle at you gas station and try to fill the tank, listening for the sound of the gas coming up the fuel filler neck which in turn contacts the shutoff in the gas nozzle. When you think the tank is full, you could use a wooden(i.e. non-metallic/non-sparking) dowel as a "dipstick" pushed thru the nozzle restrictor down into the fuel filler neck. If the tank is full enough to shut off the gas nozzle and your wooden rod is longer than the gas nozzle, you should get gas on the wooden rod which proves the tank is full. This will indicate that the fuel sending unit is probably faulty. At that point, you pay to replace it or fill the car and use the trip odometer to tell you when to fill up (e.g. say every 300 miles). The trip odometer method relies on you zeroing the trip odometer when you fill the tank(no partial fillups). Motorcyclists whose bikes do not has gas gauges use this method. If the tank runs out of gas, the fuel pump can burnout.
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I have investigated further and it appears this is simply a gas tank vent hose issue. My friends theory is that the vent hose is clogged. So, who knows how to troubleshoot this?
Hey Ponderguy, Solution # 2 seems to have nailed it. I'll take a look.
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