[Gr8ScottAZ]

I just purchased a 2010 Odyssey EX-L w/ RES and I'm noticing a problem with the fuel gauge not correctly reporting how much gas we have left. We have less than 2k miles on the minivan so I've only been able to duplicate this a few times but each time we get around 300 miles on a tankful, the gas light comes on and the gauge will hit the E. I'm thinking that this can't be right so when I go fill up the tank, it will only take around 16 gallons. Since the Odyssey's have a 21 gallon tank, that means there's approx 5 gallons of gas still sitting in the tank.

Has anyone else noticed this problem on their Odyssey? What kind of fix can Honda do to correct this? Is this a simple fix as replacing the float or something more complicated? I can't believe that our car should be reporting an empty tank when there is in fact 5+ gallons of gas still in the tank.

My wife thinks that they installed the wrong size tank on our vehicle but I think the problem is more with the reporting of how much fuel is in there. Any help with this problem?

Thanks, - Chris

 

[dvpatel]

Search term: fuel and guage

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=98861&highlight=fuel+and+guage

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45706&highlight=fuel+and+guage

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49905&highlight=fuel+and+guage

There are several more on the first page of the search results with that search term.

 

[happygilmore]

I just purchased a 2010 Odyssey EX-L w/ RES and I'm noticing a problem with the fuel gauge not correctly reporting how much gas we have left. We have less than 2k miles on the minivan so I've only been able to duplicate this a few times but each time we get around 300 miles on a tankful, the gas light comes on and the gauge will hit the E. I'm thinking that this can't be right so when I go fill up the tank, it will only take around 16 gallons. Since the Odyssey's have a 21 gallon tank, that means there's approx 5 gallons of gas still sitting in the tank.

Has anyone else noticed this problem on their Odyssey? What kind of fix can Honda do to correct this? Is this a simple fix as replacing the float or something more complicated? I can't believe that our car should be reporting an empty tank when there is in fact 5+ gallons of gas still in the tank.

My wife thinks that they installed the wrong size tank on our vehicle but I think the problem is more with the reporting of how much fuel is in there. Any help with this problem?

Thanks, - Chris

I wouldn't even look at the fuel gauge for accuracy. It's just there to roughly tell you if you have less than half a tank. If you know the car travels around 300 miles per tank <- for argument sake, then you know you will need gas soon. For those lucky people getting 500 miles per tank, you know you are running on fumes.

 

[dvpatel]

Re: Re: Fuel gauge on 2010 EX-L inaccurate?

For those lucky people getting 500 miles per tank, you know you are running on fumes.

Though I would not disagree with you on this one, I have personally gotten 450 miles on a tank and I was no where near running on fumes. The light came on at about 425ish and we pulled in to the next Shell station for fueling. The needle was above E all the time. With the Ody having a flat tank, its hard for a fuel guage to do its job and if you have straight constant highway runs, 400+ miles to a tank is NOT impossible at all. I get 400+ most of the times when I drive on freeways but I always fill up at 1/4th of a tank as the needle says so I don't push my luck as some try around here.

In-town, about 300 is what one would get but the Oddy does surprisingly well on long stretches of freeways.

 

[happygilmore]

Re: Re: Re: Fuel gauge on 2010 EX-L inaccurate?

Though I would not disagree with you on this one, I have personally gotten 450 miles on a tank and I was no where near running on fumes. The light came on at about 425ish and we pulled in to the next Shell station for fueling. The needle was above E all the time. With the Ody having a flat tank, its hard for a fuel guage to do its job and if you have straight constant highway runs, 400+ miles to a tank is NOT impossible at all. I get 400+ most of the times when I drive on freeways but I always fill up at 1/4th of a tank as the needle says so I don't push my luck as some try around here.

In-town, about 300 is what one would get but the Oddy does surprisingly well on long stretches of freeways.

I live in NY and I will never be able to achieve that around here. 15mpg or 300ish

 

[Cntrtwnltd]

After 4 years of driving and fueling the Odyssey I have settled on the fact that when looking at the gas gauge, each half equals 8 gallons and when the light comes on, which happens slightly before the needle arrives at "E", there are 5 gallons left. I personally have driven a good 90 miles before fueling after the light came on. (Although I do not reccomend it, but I saved a good 30 cents a gallon by doing it). Even then it was not "bone dry".

 

[fillykonk]

Honda generally seem to be overly generous in warning one that they need to think about refueling. My 08 Acura TL's warning light comes on when there are still 4-5 gallons or about 60-90 miles left (depending on city/highway driving).

 

[reed57]

I have the same issue as Gr8scottAZ.

Our '99 Ody stayed of 'Full' for the 1st 100 miles. Our new '10 has 6 gal left after we are on E. I've been avg 19 miles/gal.

Of note, I used to get the same or better millage on our '99.
We also bought a '10 CRV. I avg 25 miles/gal which is the same milage I was getting on my 2001 Accord with 6 cylinders.

Not alot of improvement.

 

[dbrondstetter]

We just bought a 2010 a few months ago. The gauge goest to empty with over 6 gallons in the tank.

None of you have mentioned the filler tube which takes a gallon of gas, so really the problem is worse. The stupid thing is on dead empty while still having 6 gallons in the thank. With a 21 gallon tank, that is a variance of 28.6%. So we now have a vehicle with a 15-16 gallon gas tank effectively! We would not have bought it had we known that we would be on E after 15 gallons of use. Who the heck would do that? We aren't going to stand for it. This is a lemon and will need to be fixed or repurchased.

 

[Gr8ScottAZ]

We just bought a 2010 a few months ago. The gauge goest to empty with over 6 gallons in the tank.

None of you have mentioned the filler tube which takes a gallon of gas, so really the problem is worse. The stupid thing is on dead empty while still having 6 gallons in the thank. With a 21 gallon tank, that is a variance of 28.6%. So we now have a vehicle with a 15-16 gallon gas tank effectively! We would not have bought it had we known that we would be on E after 15 gallons of use. Who the heck would do that? We aren't going to stand for it. This is a lemon and will need to be fixed or repurchased.

Same here - if I would have known that the light would come on and the gauge would be pointing on the E with 6 gallons of gas left, I would have never of bought the vehicle. I don't care if the gas light comes on at that point, I just want the stupid gauge to accurately reflect how much gas I have in my tank, if it still has a 1/4 tank left, the gauge needs to reflect that. When I take my vehicle in for it's 1st service, I'm going to have them check this out and see what can be done because this is ridiculous.

 

[Tri-C]

It's a characteristic of the vehicle.

If it truly troubles the last two posters to the extent stated, here's a solution: sell yours vans and buy something else.

 

[mi_sat]

Honestly, is this *really* that troublesome? Assuming you fill up when the light comes on, at worst, you have 6 gallons of gas "trapped" in the tank that you'll never get to use. At $3/gallon, you have $18 forever "trapped" in your vehicle.

I would respectfully submit that this hardly constitutes a lemon.

Let that be the worst thing that happens to you.

 

[bryan11]

I also hate temperature dummy gauges. I like how my Jetta and Mercedes both tell me the actual temp of the coolant rather than, gee its not too hot, or gee its not hot enough yet. I want to know the details baby! How about a gas gauge that shows the actual gallons?

Don't even get me started on the outside temperature gauge. It has logic to "help" me. How is it helping me when it is 102 degrees outside yet the gauge is telling me its 76 degrees? I don't need engineers telling me how to think for my own good.

 

[William Wiles]

The problem with the Ody is the tank is a large flat bottom tank. Stick your head under the van and look at it. The pickup will probably start sucking air with3 or 4 gallons in the tank especially on quick stops, starts, steep hills. This coupled with the air buble in all tanks at the top to allow for expansion of the fuel which eliminates another gallon or so of usable space. The listed volume of the tank does not take in account of this lost usable space. If you look at most cars the tank will slope to a vee or have a sump built in the tank which cuts down on the unusable space in the tank.

 

[dbrondstetter]

to those of you who suggest that this is not a noncomformity, you are incorrect. The reason that is will qualify as a nonconformity is what is written in the owners manual.

It states specifically that the low fuel warning light will come on with about 3 gallons left in the tank. Mine comes on with 8 gallons left in the tank. It should come on with 3 gallons left in the tank per Honda's Owner's manual for the vehicle. Since it does not conform to Honda's own specifications, it cannot be passed of as a normal characteristic of the vehicle.

 

[poogah]

Good to know I am not the only one

Finally, others with the same issue! I have this same problem. After a fill-up, the needle falls off of full within a few miles. When the fuel light comes on, if I immediately fill up, I can only get 15-16 gallons in the tank. I have driven 50 miles after the light comes on, and I still could only get 17-18 gallons in the tank -- but it makes me anxious to drive that long with the light on and the needle pegged at or below empty.

I took my 2010 Odyssey back in to the dealer three times. They finally dropped and drained the tank, and put in one gallon at a time to verify that the needle was moving and that it held (almost) 21 gallons.

I faxed a letter to Honda of America and got a call this morning which basically came down to this: "The manual says 'about' three gallons remaining. We can't do anything unless the dealer determines that the difference is outside the leeway given to the specification by the word 'about'."

In my case that difference is 2.5-3 gallons... so 75%-100% difference might be an acceptable engineering margin of error. Shame on you Honda. I guess I should have gone with the Toyota.

I never realized how irritating a gas gauge could be till I had one that was highly inaccurate.

 

[asa203]

Fuel Guage on 2010 Touring inaccurate

Like many others, I have a 2010 Oddy Touring with a innacurate fuel guage. The van only has a little over 1000 miles on it. The Miles till empty fell from 50 to 5 in a 20 mile stretch. The fuel guage also fell below zero so I hurred into a gas station with only 4 miels to empty. The van only took 16 gallons which did not make sense to me since I had a 21 gallon tank and had gone 345 highway miles. I traded in my 2005 EXL and it had a very accuracte fuel guage. On the 2005, when the needle hit the E Line, there were 2 gallons left. I have not been to a dealer yet, but has anyone had success getting Honda to fix this problem?

 

[VANGOtk]

This is a frustrating problem for me too. And hard to explain to other family members who drive the vehicle, as well. The tank is stated to have 21 gallon capacity on all specs I have ever seen.
Like everyone else I had high expectations of getting nice long distances between fuel stops when on road trips.
I took our Odyssey to the local Honda dealership with the gauge reading empty and the low fuel light on, asking for their help. I requested that they perform all necessary checks and then to fill the tank themselves and include the fuel charge on the bill that I would receive. Here is what was written on my repair ticket-
"Customer complaint- when gauge reads empty the van still has 5-6 gallons in the tank. Performed gauge sweep. Fuel gauge is reading accurately. Low fuel light is on. Filled up tank. Took 15.35 gallons. Low fuel light will come on with approx 3.36 gallons of available fuel. There will always be 2 more gallons of unavailable fuel in the bottom of the tank. Everything is operating properly at this time."
I asked if there were any service bulletins that they had on record for this problem or if there was any way to adjust the reading in any other manner. The answer they gave me was, "no". I get what they said, but it is still frustrating. No point being mad at the service shop, when Honda won't acknowledge this or act on it.
The fix needs to be with the manufacturer. The key word above was "unavailable" fuel. If the tank is big and flat on the bottom, there is going to be a huge amount of fuel capacity that is just wasted. So sad, when the fix is really obvious- go back to what has worked forever- create a tank with a sump well, put the fuel pickup in that well and have only a 1/2 gallon or so of unavailable fuel. Imagine that, the early automotive inventors, designers and engineers got it right over 80 years ago. We don't need fancy or digital to get accurate information- just common sense being used by the automotive engineers.

 

[Swaplt]

So has anyone got this problem resolved? I have a 2010 ex-L and I'm never able to put in more than 15 gallons once the light comes on. At my last service they said the van had no problems and they didn't know why it was coming on so soon. It does make sense if there truly is 2 gallons of trapped fuel due to tank design.