1999 Toyota Camry LE, 2.2L, 99340 original miles, Automatic, no codes
Hey Scotty & Guys,
My son's 99 Camry has a gas gauge reading at 3/4 when the tank is filled up. The fuel light does come on when it gets just below "E". With the price of sending units vs. a junkyard dash cluster for a replacement gauge, depending on the actual issue... anyone ever pop the gas needle off its pin, reposition it, and cross your fingers? Thoughts? I've also read about resetting the gas gauge with the odometer stem. That sounds like a wives' tale. Thanks!
Its likely just a bad fuel sending unit that's located in the gas tank. It's gonna be a big job to take the fuel tank off and on an old car like that it's just too much money to worry about trying to fix that. If you have the tools and patience to take the dash off and see if the gauge just gets stuck when it goes up you could but even then its gonna be a lot of work to do just that and that might all be a waste of time if its the sending unit because I know it can take hours to take a dash apart. I wouldn't worry about it since it's still able to read when its low so you don't run out of fuel randomly.
give the dash a tap above the fuel gauge, if it starts working then its most likely the dash cluster.
My call would be the sending unit in the tank, since it's reading fine until you get to 3/4 full. This indicates that the tank was rarely filled to full and the upper part of the rheostat is corroded.
I just got in the habit of setting the trip odometer to 0 when I fill up (I had motorcycles and a car with a bad sender unit).
Found it more accurate and useful than the gauge.
