taurus9

Hi,
Has anyone had this problem. Driving the 03 C320 the other day...all is well...then the gas needle drops to zero. No light indicating low fuel. Then the next day when I am driving at the same spot it jumps back to normal. Now it is on E and I have to keep guessing how much gas I have. Is there a way to reset this with a fuse or something? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thank you

SPORTCOUPE

Had the same incident twice last month, on my 2001 - c230 coupe...
I did nothing and the fuel indicator is working fine now.
I am sure it will come up again, so if someone knows what's wrong and how to fix it let me know...

Thanks

amanonfire

STF

This was a common problem on the early W203s. If I remember correctly its due to the fuel level sensor, which is inside the tank, and is about $700 to fix outside of warranty. There is a DIY somewhere on this site or the web.

ammar_rage

Ok ...here we go...i have posted this many times before....it is not that big of a problem it is something very simple and yet very stupid from MB...i have had this problem for the longest time and then i figured it out.......most of the times if your lucky and if it is not the fuel sensor then this problem happens to the cheap people like you and I. I used to only put in little gas in the tank and put in some more when it would be close to end......what happens is that some pressure develops inside when the tank is not full and it cuases this to happen.......the easy solution to this is to fill up the tank to the capacity and u wud notice the dead needle jump up to life again.....and once its close to end again put in siginifoicant amount of gas if not completely full..atleast 7/8 !!! this problem still occurs to me even after owning this vehicle for 5 years from time to time when i decide to cheap out on the fillups 3-4 times in a row....if the needle is dead....fill up to the capacity and it will jump up....and if you always fill up to the cpacity when its empty this problem will never happen!

whalebird

I think these cars have a tank that straddles the drive shaft, and it the fuel level goes down, the pump actualy siphons from the passenger side of the tank into the driver side then to the engine. The level sender is used by the instrument cluster to corralate an average between the two tanks and thus report to you through the gauge. It has been a while since I reviewed this process and I hope my memory serves me correctly. There may even be two level sensors on these cars that the average is atained from. Again its been a while. I would suspect the sensor(s) as being the problem. Pressure should not develop in the tank. A vacuum is used by the evap system to purge the fumes from the tank. Thats why if you leave your engine running and release the gas cap, some times the check-engine light will come on: unable to pull a vacuum