Rep Power: 0

Hey guys.

I just bought my first civic. It is a 99 CX hatch, so far I love it. I bought the car from a mechanic who had taken good care of it. He said there was a problem with the fuel gauge but it is not a big deal.

The gauge is accurate when I start the car but it shoots up to full when I am driving. I am wondering what it is that needs to be done to correct this.

I did some searching and so far it seems that the two things I found were either the float is getting stuck, or the fuel sending unit has a poor ground connection.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks,
Canada

 
Rep Power: 518

I'd test stuff.
Measure resistance between sending unit wire and ground.

Sending unit should measure about 2-5 ohms full
and about 110 ohms empty

See what the sender does with you start and drive.

 
Rep Power: 0

I unfortunalty do not have a volt meeter at this time.

But here is what I have come up with from my own research.

As of right now if it turn the key toward the on position but do not start the car the gas gauge will adjust at times to show the correct amount of fuel in the tank.

I have done some searching and it seems that these are the 3 main issues associated with this problem,

#1 The fuel float is stuck (seems this is not likely as the gauge will go to the correct position when the key is forward but the car is not on).

#2 The actual fuel gauge on the cluster is broken, from what I have read this is fairly common. (I do not suspect this is my problem as the gauge will adjust when the key is forward without the car running).

#3 The fuel sending unit is malfunctioning due to age or other deteriorating factors, or it has a poor ground connection. (I feel this is most likely the cause of my problem)

So moving forward, I am going to start by working on #3. It is my understanding that I need to remove the rear seats in my hatch to gain access to the fuel sending unit.

I however am not sure how to best remove the seats, do I need to remove just the bottom of the seat or the entire assembly?
Also I am not exactly sure how to test the fuel sending unit, I read that it can be checked with a multimeter but I do not have access to one at this time. Another way to check it that I read was to unplug it and if the gauges goes to empty, that should be a good indicator that the sender is in need of replacing. (Does this sound accurate?)

Anyways good to be here, sorry for posting such a common issue but I do like to have the reassurance that I am on the right track.

 
Rep Power: 518

Voltmeter, maybe $20 for a cheapie at Sears or Harbor freight here.



Rear seat bottom cushion, lift up at the front edge to release the 2 anchors. (my literature says, anyway)
There should be a bolt anchoring the rear edge of the cushion, somewhere near the middle passenger area. Usually a 10mm socket for that one.


HTH

 
Rep Power: 0

The bolt is a little toward the drivers side where the seat back meets the bottom cushion hard to get but it's just the one u need to take out. Once the seat bottom cushion is out you will see the seal around your tank. There are a few YouTube videos removing rear seats on 96-2000 civics.

 
Rep Power: 204

Canadian Tire pretty much constantly has multimeters on sale from $10 and up