I ****ed something up

[Elephant_Berls]

lol i was in a hurry tonight after i pumped the gas on my moms 1999 explorer and left the gas tank door open and the gas cap hanging out i feal so stupid. Well i didnt figure it out until i noticed the fuel gauge said i had filled the tank up. So i was like wtf i didnt put but 23 dollars in the tank so i stoped and realized that i left the fuel door open. And the gas cap off. Long story short the gas gauge stays on full when the car is running and goes back down to the right level when i kill it. Whats the problem. did it blow some sort of fuse? Is it something i can fix or will it need to goto the shop?

 

[Elephant_Berls]

o also it has happend before. When we first got it. But i cant rember what was wrong/how much it was to fix. but i do rember my mom leaving the cap off and having to bring it to the shop. I was hoping i could fix it tho any sugestions on what it could be?

 

[jimbo74]

get a new gas cap, put it on, and disnconnect the battery and leave the headlight switch on, it may reset the computer and possible clear the problem with the guage saying full....

 

[Black Magic]

Yea, just reset the clock

 

[Elephant_Berls]

cool i will try that. Would the blinker be conected to this? becouse about the same time the blinker went haywire on the drivers side. Also this car has that little console between the sun visors that has the direction your traveling in and tepmrature. Will i have to reset that also? i rember when we bought it they had to enter in the longitude or some crap. O one more thing why do i need a new gas cap? im going to get one in case but i dunno if i can find one. Im sure autozone would have one tho.

Also whats with this. Hell old cars u could drive off with the gas nozzle still in the tank and not have a problem. is it some sort of presure problem?

 

[Elephant_Berls]

also one thing worries me i called the ford place and they told me that if the computer needs to be reset it would cost 70 dollars. Lol i guess they unplug the battery and turn on the light switch and charge 70 bucks for it. But he did say that if there was a problem the check engine light should be on. and it isnt. Even when i had the cap off the check engine light did not come on? so what gives. im pretty sure there is something wrong. The gauge will move like 1 or 2mm itll go from the F mark then over all the way. This morning it was on the F mark. My moms going on a trip so i will see i guess.

 

[RiverRat]

Don't worry about a thing. You can't break anything or blow a fuse by leaving off the gas cap. If the gauge isn't reading correctly then you might have a fuel sender or gauge problem. It's not related to leaving off the fuel cap. Don't let your mom blame you.

 

[TPLYNCH]

I think Jim thought you left the cap behind. Shouldn't need a new one. Are u facing uphill when looking at the gauge, cause it will read about 1/8 tank higher if you r facing uphill, and 1/8 lower if facing downhill....

 

[explorer4x493]

I have a related problem.

I just had some things fixed from Ford yesterday (big mistake), and now have some new problems not even relating to what they did yesterday.

My gas guage is totally flipping out. The "check guage" light is coming on, or flickering. I got in my car and started it up and it read full (which was not true), I look down at my computer and it said 198 miles till empty. Which would be a little above half if it read 198 mte. I drove for a mile and look back down and it was lower than "E". Once again "check guage". Look down at computer and it said 197 mte.

Clueless on what's going on. Did ford possibly mess with somehing that could make this happen? I know it's probably the sensor in the tank but it's just akward that this would only happen on the day after they worked on my car.

By the way they only replaced the spark plug wires and plugs.