Ran out of gas … tank reading 1/4 full

[Maxhouse97]

Yes i’m currently sitting on the shoulder of the road in a safe position, waiting for the gas guy to come get me. My car had a quarter tank indication and started sputtering and seems to have run out of gas. I researched the jet suction pump and thought potentially that gas was not transferring from the left side tank to the right side tank. However, I just did the fuel test on the OBD menu and it seems like I have no gas in the left tank in 14 L in the right tank. Am I reading this correct?

By the way, I have a brand new OEM main fuel pump and a new fuel filter, that’s why I thought at first it was the jet suction pump from the left side.

[Maxhouse97]

The range gauge is showing 86 miles.

[Maxhouse97]

Just because i’m bored and have nothing else to do, I will continue to opine on my own situation here. If this is correct, this means that for some reason, my gas pump is pulling gas from the left side before the right side? Does that mean that I might have it hooked up incorrectly? I don’t understand how I run out of gas with 14 L in the right side tank.

Could the right side pick up somehow have become clogged and now it’s only pulling from the left side?

[Maxhouse97]

Just got 3 gallons of gas, went to the gas station and this is what the test says now.

[Slideways]

Hidden menu on the OBC will give you a readout of the fuel on each side of the tank. If most of the fuel is on the drivers side, check the thread below:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/e46-2001-2006/49964-how-does-fuel-make-it-from-the-lh-side-of-the-tank-make-it-to-the-rh-side#post51000

Post number 10 and on.

[sapote]

However, I just did the fuel test on the OBD menu and it seems like I have no gas in the left tank in 14 L in the right tank. Am I reading this correct?

To see the L and R tanks, you should post pic of the menu 6.0; instead the posted pic was 6.1 which show only the sum of both tanks = 14.3 liters.
#4 post shows: 14.2 on the L and 6.9L on the right. This makes no sense as 3 gallons = 11.4 liters. Are you sure you added 3 gal?

11.4 + 14.3 = 25.7L; 14.2 + 6.9 = 21.1L

142_069 ____6.0

The data don't add up, so we might not know exactly how much fuel was in the L and R tanks to diagnos the fuel delivery issue.

[sapote]

142_069 ____6.0: this data shows the suction pump is weak (due to old weak main pump or leaky hose connection), and so you might had an empty R tank and engine cut off.

[Mayan-Viking]

This exact issue was happening to me when I first purchased my car years ago. As we signed paperwork and right after I handed him the cash the guy said "Oh, one more thing, don't let it get lower than 1/4 of a tank."

I didn't know what to make of that but I found out the hard way he was right. It turned out that the upper line connection to the fuel pump had been disconnected for some reason.

Pics attached. Pop off your rear seat and take a look. Hopefully it's that simple.

[bigjae46]

The sucking jet pump fell off the driver's side carrier.

[Maxhouse97]

To see the L and R tanks, you should post pic of the menu 6.0; instead the posted pic was 6.1 which show only the sum of both tanks = 14.3 liters.
#4 post shows: 14.2 on the L and 6.9L on the right. This makes no sense as 3 gallons = 11.4 liters. Are you sure you added 3 gal?

11.4 + 14.3 = 25.7L; 14.2 + 6.9 = 21.1L

142_069 ____6.0

The data don't add up, so we might not know exactly how much fuel was in the L and R tanks to diagnos the fuel delivery issue.

Thank you for this, I didn’t realize that there were different menus and the difference between 6.0, 6.1. What does 6.2 do?

So this means that the first pic at the start of this post is inaccurate, that’s 6.1 which means that was only a sum of the two tanks. Therefore, we do not know what tank was dry.

The roadside assistance guy told me that it was 3 gallons that was added. I was unable to verify.

Guess I’ll have to run it low again and check 6.0.

Also I checked the top of the fuel pump, looks good.

[sapote]

So this means that the first pic at the start of this post is inaccurate, that’s 6.1 which means that was only a sum of the two tanks. Therefore, we do not know what tank was dry.

The roadside assistance guy told me that it was 3 gallons. It was added. I was unable to verify.

Don't remember what 6.2 means, but I think it says the remain miles for the fuel in the tanks.

We don't know what were in the tanks looking at the first pic, but I assume the R tank was empty to cause engine shut off.

6.9L is less than 2 gal.

After adding 6.9L, did the car run again?

[Maxhouse97]

Yes it ran fine. Here is a pic from today: 1/2 tank. Left tank looks low, 7L, less than 2 gallons. But I don’t know if steady state the left tank gets refilled?

Like I said I’ll run it down now that I’m local and keep monitoring both tanks.

[Maxhouse97]

Same pic but closer

[sapote]

1. Here is a pic from today: 1/2 tank. Left tank looks low, 7L, less than 2 gallons.
2. But I don’t know if steady state the left tank gets refilled?

L = 7.9L and R = 26.6L
Total tank = 63L, so each should have 31L max
I would expect by this time the left should be less than 7 and the right should be 31L;
It's an indication that the jet pump running weak.
Keep checking and when the R is less than the L tank, then you have a problem on the jet pump connection, or the e-pump is weak.

[Slideways]

The sucking jet pump fell off the driver's side carrier.

This ^

It is easy to check by lifting out the drivers side level sender unit.