hey everyone, i have a 2003 range rover hse. its an awesome car, i absolutely love it, but earlier this week the gas gauges started acting up(the gauge on the dash, and the "range" that shows how many miles on the screen). it started after i was driving and started drifting in neutral to see if it would compensate the better gas milage and show a further range on the screen, anyways that worked but then i ran out of gas when it said i had 80 miles left(thats roughly the amount of miles that i gained when drifting in neutral) so i have a feeling riding in neutral is what caused this. anyone have an explanation for this or a way to get it fixed, anyway to reset it, maybe disconnect the battery? anyways, its not a big deal, i just dont like driving and not knowing when i am running low, hence putting me in a situation such as yesterday when i was on the highway and ran out of gas trying to take a left hand turn at the light, ended up having to hold the cars up and push it off the highway to the gas station that was located rouchly 20 feet away.....how embarrassing......

 

i was thinking maybe filling the tank up all the way, and then it must know it cant have those extra miles, but im unsure?

 

anyone, someone has to of had the same problem, i know im not the only one.....

 

Well, not to rain on your parade, but you usually burn more fuel coasting in neutral, unless you are going down a very long hill. When any fuel injected vehicle coasts in gear, the engine is not burning any fuel. The tires are moving the transmission and the engine. So when you take your foot off the accelerator, the engine is actually burning no fuel at all. Where as in neutral, the engine no longer has the transmission turning it, so it needs to start burning fuel to stay moving.

I thought, neutral was a good idea too, until my friend kindly pointed out the facts. Coasting in neutral is most beneficial when decelerating from speeds over 60mph going down a hill, because the engine is no longer braking the car, and it can gain more speed and energy that way.

Your issue is most likely a sensor problem, run a full tank of gas and some additive through it and that might fix it. Also, make sure you gas cap is on TIGHT!

Shifting from N to D all the time might cause transmission problems later, just a thought. Its you vehicle, do what you want .

P.S. The computer thinks it is getting better fuel economy, even though that is not the case. Calculate it out by hand, you'll be surprised.

 

no, i maybe coasted in neutral for 10 minutes total, switched back and forth maybe 5 times? i didnt think i was getting better fuel economy, i was mjust messing around more than anything. i tink it might have finally corrected itself last night, it sounds about right(compared to my calculations i've been doing everytime i get gas, so i know how many miles i should hjave one the mileage before i think of getting gas )idk what its deal is, it had been like that for about 3 weeks, and still might not be fixed. id just hate to pay $150 to have range rover tell me i need a new fuel sender unit or something if you know what i mean..................

 

I know exactly what you mean.

 

well, all is swell now, but im stil confused to what corrected the issue, and what truely caused it at first. the gaue is now close enough(i dont have a way of knowing 100% if its spot on) but its works great now, so no more running out of gas at stop lights, yipeeee! the thing about this truck is it gives no warning of running out of gas except maybe a little bit of hesitation, so i would drive down the road and think it had plenty of gas(it said it had a quarter tank, or like 120 miles range) and then waiting at the light iot would just start running really rough and i knew what was happening, and one time i had to actually push the truck out of the road because it wouldnt move with the amount of gas it had, and it all happens within 1 sec, as soon as the truck starts running rough im out of luck. haha, thanks for the help everyone, and dont take your gas gauges for granted, they make a huge difference, TRUST me!!