Why won't my gas light ever come on? Please Help!
 

All my lights come on except my gas light. Every time I am low on gas, the gas light never comes on, and I was just wondering if someone could please explain to me how to fix this. Is it a bulb, a fuse or what? Thanks

Mine is the same. It will come on and stay on for maybe a mile when I have 1 gallon left.

my light has never come on, even when past e...but then again, I have always been able to get to a gas station BEFORE my car stopped running, so who knows...have you ran it completely empty and still had no light?

It could be that the bulb is burned out. Like half of the lights in my gauge cluster needed new bulbs when I got my Civic. It takes patience to replace them, but I love my lights so it's worth it, IMO.

You have to take the cluster out, pull the face off (carefully), take all the harnesses loose - obviously it will be easiest when you take the gauge cluster out, then pull the back off. At that point you should see all the bulbs and you can replace them with bulbs from Autozone or whatever.... theoretically. I don't know what year your car is so about all I can tell you is how my own experience went.

My car is a 97 integra gsr...My gas light has never came on. No I have never drove it untill it TOTALLY ran out of gas. People have told me to just carry 5 gallons of gas with me and run it out just to see if the light would come on, but I would rather not do that because I was once told that when you get to the bottom of your gas tank you begin to suck up debri. What kind of bulb is behind those little symbols? I think it might be a bulb, because there are 3 symbols in the same spot, and 2/3 work. If anybody else has any ideas please let me know...and if it is a bulb how hard is it to get to? Thanks!

The bulb is probably burned out.
I don't remember the model # .... but any competent auto-store clerk ought to be able to look it up. The bulbs are quite small.. about a 1/4 of an inch in diameter and maybe 3/4" tall.

To replace the bulb, it's a 15-minute job at the most.

Remove the instrument panel, turn it around and remove the little bulb holder by twisting counter-clockwise. Swap in a new bulb, reassemble and you're done.

What exactly is the instrument panel? How do I remove it?
Thanks

By "instrument panel", I'm referring to the single unit in the dashboard -- directly in front of the steering wheel -- that houses the water temperature, tachometer, speedometer and fuel gauge (and all the tiny "idiot" lights).

To remove it, you'll need a medium sized Phillips screwdriver.

1. Lower the steering collumn to it's lowest position.

2. Remove the 2 screws that hold the black trim panel in. These screws are recessed into the top of the panel.

3. With the screws removed, pull the black trim panel directly towards you.

4. Remove the 4 screws that hold the instrument panel in place. They're located at the top and bottom corners of the panel.

5. With the screws removed, gently pull the instrument panel towards you and unplug the 4 harnesses that plug into the back of the panel.

6. With the panel removed, turn it over and you'll see cluster of small knobs that plug into the circuit board on the back.

7. Somewhere close the bottom, on the side nearest the gas gauge, you'll find the bulb socket that corresponds to the low-gas "warning" light. It's a trial and error process; I don't remember which one it is. Basically, the point is to check the bulbs to make sure they aren't burned out.

8. [Like I said earlier...] The bulbs plug into a knob-like plastic holder that screws into the back of the instrument panel. To remove them, twist clockwise about 1/2 a turn or so.

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Once you've found the burned-out bulb (if there is one), remove it and buy a replacement. Plug the new bulb back in and reverse the instructions to reassemble the car.

Dave, Thanks a million for your time on this...I appreciate it.
-Tony

kay I took out the gauge cluster and everything, I went to replace the bulb, but come to find out the bulb is still good! So It's not the bulb, I mean I let the meter go pasted "E" I don't know what it is. Maybe integras wait till you only got one mile to go before the light comes on.

I seem to have a similar problem too with my teg. My problem is I'll let it run down to the 'E' and when I fill it up it only fills up to about 9 gallons. Integras, I'm pretty sure have 13 gallon tanks....so that means my gas guage is off. Sounds like yours probably is too.

Most gas gauges aren't the most accurate things in the world. :oh:

It's possible that fuel level sender unit is broken...but the gauge would start acting strange. If memory serves, the idiot light is supposed to come on when you've got about 3 gallons of petrol left... so frankly, I wouldn't worry about it.

I think "E" stands for "Enough" :chuckles:

If you have to wait for the light to come on you should have gotten gas a LONG time ago.

Sometimes the gas light does not come on cause it just doesn't get run down enough. You don't want to go that low anyways, when it gets that low and you run it to fumes your fuel pump begins to suck all the shit off of the bottom of the tank. The stuff that never gets used which can than cause a backup. Also, when you fill up you want to go all the way too, I know sometimes $$$ is tight, but the same thing can happen to the top of the tank as well as the bottom. Sediment.

If your running your tank almost empty all the time, your unnesessarily wearing on your fuel pump. It uses the fuel to cool and lubricate itself. Ask me how i know.. i went through 2 pumps in my supra before i learned that. Now my tank never goes below 1/4.

mine doesn't come on until you're like critically low. if you really want to know if it works unplug the fuel level sensor and the needle will drop all the way down. should be accessable under the floor in the trunk.

I have a 98 GSR too and it turns on and off starting at 3 gallons or so. I think it stays on when I have 2 gallons or less.