85mm

After a late dinner this evening my wife and I were in the middle of about a 10 mile drive home on the freeway when all the sudden the gas peddle didn't seem to do anything. We quickly put the hazard on and moved to the shoulder. The car would not restart. The gas gauge showed just over a quarter tank, no where near the reserve zone. On board computer showed 76 miles left on the tank. We hit the SOS button and the police arrived before the Benz rep did. The police pushed us to a gas station where I filled up almost 27 gallons of gas after which the truck started up just fine. Could this be a faulty fuel sensor? I just had service A done and no problems came up at the time. It was a pretty scary experience as we had just enough momentum to pull over a few feet onto the shoulder of a 65mph highway.

Our GL450 has under 8k miles on it and I just called in this week to cancel the SOS service which was still good until next week. We don't drive on rural roads, drive the GL less than 8k miles/yr and have two other cars so I just didn't see the value in it for our purposes . . . until tonight. I won't go into that conspiracy any further.

We certainly don't abuse the truck but for the first time ever, I felt like experimenting by filling 3/4 of the tank with medium unleaded fuel two fill-ups ago. I didn't notice any difference by the way. I than filled it with super unleaded which I apparently used up because I thought I had a quarter tank left. Wondering if this happened to anyone else. Benz rep says it takes 1000 occurances to initiate a recall. Good thing this didn't happen in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge we drive on daily! I still really like the GL but ever since I got a sports car my wife says she'd rather be more low key and get a Pilot which she won't have to be as careful with. I thought I had convinced her to just keep the GL but this didn't help.

dieseldoc

So far, I have not had a problem with the fuel gauge on my truck. There are other posts on this site where people have had inaccurate gauges.

Nevada Jack

When I had my GL550, I noted the gas gauge was not the most accurate. At times I would be at half full and it would take over 17 gallons. I was never quite sure how much gas I had. I then started filling the tank when the gauge showed between 1/4 to 1/2 and as I remember it was never a consistent amount to refill it to full mark.

oknish

Now that you mention it, Jack, I have to say that my GL experience is the same.

85mm

I used to rely on the fuel guage quite a bit refueling when the reserve light would go on. However, as gas prices went up I'd fill up a 1/4 to 1/2 tank when ever I drove by San Rafael where gas prices were the lowest. From now I'll at least reset the odometer.

mortenmol

the first half of mine is about 60 litres roughly 15 gallons, the last 1/4 is the worst not much there. Mine doesn't move untill after 90miles of highway when it's completely full, I just got used to it

BeanCounter

I routinely put around 18 to 20 gallons in when the guage says around half full. I personally don't let it get much below half on the guage because I really don't feel like running out of gas.....

knepster

Had my lawyer write to MB and to Dealership as was close to lemon status. It took 3x for them to try to fix this while endangering my family. They were twice stranded on highway in 70 MPH traffic. My wife noticed all times that she had at least 1/4 tank. The service advisor being the chauvonistic A-hole, told me my wife needed to learn to fill up the tank properly so she wouldn't run out of gas.

Search this forum, few others experienced.

They had to replace fuel sender sensors, rear sam, and a few other things. We now watch the current mileage driven since fill up and re-fill at 260 miles driven to play it safe.

The fuel guage would be all over the place. Same thing with the Miles to empty meter. I would be in the GL for 6 minutes and the MTE would go from 270 to 140. Ridiculous. It is not as erratic, but still not a good "guage" to fill up.

I know that if it happens again it will be strike 4 for same issue and I will move on from MB.

emayer

Well, I've been following the postings here for some time, and have to report that we had the same issue occur last night. I've done plenty dumb things behind the wheel, but never ran out of gas before...

We had been on the road returning from a 120 mile trip. Gas needle was low though the reserve light had not come on. Range computer indicated 38 miles until empty and I was planning on tanking at the next exit approx 4 miles away. All of a sudden at 75 mph the car began running rough, and I barely made it safely to the shoulder. SOS was very helpful in obtaining service though we had to keep the kids at bay for 1hr until they came. I'm glad to say that the car is running fine, but I would implore others not to rely on the gauge or computer.

As a safety issue, is there a reporting mechanism within MB or elsewhere I should be in contact with? I'd hate to see accidents arise because of this.

thebishman

The NHTSA I would imagine since this is the kind of fault that can cause serious injury or worse.

Bish

knepster

The rear SAM replacment and re-program have not made it better but worse. THe guage is all over the place, I put gas in at full, even topped it. the guage showed 7/8s. Drove 40 miles and the guage went beyond 1/1 all the way to the right. Drove it 70 miles and it was at 7/8s, we avg. 280 driving around town on full tank. I stopped in a lot last week at idle, the tank was 3/4 full and the yellow empty indicator was blinking till i turned off vehicle and restarted.

Brocktoon

What is the trip computer saying? ie: range?

emayer

Thx. I'll check into this and leave feedback here later on....

MyMercedes012

^^ what did u find out?

knepster

in the shop, I have heard it has been a silent problem that is starting to become an issue for others--stay tuned

dbtk

My fuel guage dropped from 1/2 tank to empty in less than 2 minutes, causing my MTE to drop to 0. I found the nearest diesel station, put in $20 and restarted the car. The guage returned to 2/3 tank.

anb957

no problems with 08 GL320. maybe only a problem on the gasoline vehciles?

nynd

I was just going to ask the same question, wonder if the sending unit is different as I know sometime a while back, some of the fuel stations had additives which damaged fuel sensors by coating them.

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From and internet search:
Chevrolet has posted a TSB for inaccurated fuel gauge problems due to sulfur contamination of the resistor board in the fuel sender unit itself (basically the 'float' assembly in the gas tank, attached to the fuel pump assembly).

Their repair is to replace the unit, which is very pricey and hard to do (removal of the gas tank is necessary).

One thing you can try that is inexpensive and might repair the problem is to go purchase a couple of bottles of "Chevron Techron" fuel additive at your local parts store. This is very effective at dissolving this sulfur build-up, and might clean it up so replacement won't be necessary. I would run at least three tankfuls with this additive before making your judgment (just follow the instructions on the bottle).

Sulfur is a byproduct of the gasoline manufacturing process, and higher quality brands do better jobs at filtering this out of the fuel than cheaper, less known brads of fuel, so stick with a high-quality well known filling station that meets low-sulfur standards.

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Popo

I had a similar issue with a 2002 c32 AMG where the indiated amount of fuel was very erratic below 1/4 tank.

2 tanks with the techron concentrate and 1 of Shell V power total fuel cleaner and the problem went away for the next 2 years by which time i sold the car.

dbtk

Mine is a 2010 Bluetec.