sviper

1st trip add Techron®
2nd trip replace tank per TSB and fuel sending unit
3rd trip add Techron®
4th trip open circuit form fuel sending unit to gage cluster
5th trip (to different mechanic) replace sending unit
Problem found Ford technician did not install sending unit and sending unit hanging in tank with springs at bottom of tank
6th trip I have had my fuel sending units replaced with 2007 version, the engine management module has been manually reprogrammed. Detroit engineering has been contacted and my car is still in the dealer as we speak. It has been there since Monday of this week. They also disconnected my after market alarm system to ensure that it was not feeding back to the smart junction box and creating a problem.(It was ruled out) They checked the gauge cluster and monitor the fuel level as it was filling and after doing all that, still no resolution.
7th trip still in shop with no resolution

metroplex

Lemon law it?

Tedz Pony

Sounds like it to me. You should NOT have to purchase special additives in order to make the stock gas tank/gauge assembly work right. I have no poblm with using them, but it should not be necessary, and I think if the dealership is telling you to do so, throw the BS flag and be more insistant. As much cash as we've shelled out for these things, they need to work right, all the time, without odd little "band-aid" fixes. Keep on them until they fix it right, all the way.

hightime2211

Don't know if this is related, but it seems that when I fill up, the guage will never go past a little over 3/4 of a tank. Maybe I should only fill up at Chevrons? I've been goin to a Shell station near my house. Do the '07s have the fuel problems? Any advise?

Thanks.

sviper

I'm not sure if the '07 have any issues with the tank or anything like that.

sviper

I contacted my cousin who is a Product Liability layer and he referred me to another partner who specializes in lemon law issues. From my understanding of what they told me is to let this repair happen and there are two outcomes from this repair, either it works or does not. If the repair does not work I will have to contact a layer in Texas since that is where the vehicle was purchased and see if the laws there are the same as California, once I get advise on that I defiantly have a case, also was told that I should try to work it out with the dealership to see if they will replace the vehicle.

I will keep you all updated on the situation.

frdtch05gt

I had the fuel sender changed out at the same time the gas tank was done, haven't had any problems since. That sounds like a wiring issue or faulty cluster if it still isn't working after the sender was changed.

sviper

The gage cluster was tested and came back fine. Dealership thought that when I took it to them last Monday that it maybe the smart junction box (located on the passenger side kick plate). I have not heard from the service manager last week since he was out sick, waiting until Monday to talk with him on what has gone on this last week and what to look forward to.

I am planning to kind of “put the ball in their court” on Monday and ask him how much more are we going to keep trying before we do something else.

sviper

So I stopped by the dealership today and talked with the manager that has been helping me with the problem, he had been out sick last week. He was on the phone with ford when I got there, once he came out he apologized and I let him know that it could not be helped when one gets sick, he said thank you but that is not why he was apologizing he told me that the car had not been worked on since I dropped it off last week. He assured me that as of first thing in the morning they would be on the phone with ford engineering. He also told me that last week the car was attempted to be moved but the car would not start (battery was dead). The service manager told me that he believes that there are possibly two problems.1 the gage cluster may not be turning off completely, or 2 the smart junction box is bad.

I did try to throw it back to ford and get him to tell me how long we were going to keep trying until some other route could be taken, he let me know that only after the engineering line had been exhausted that at that point ford would send out an engineer from Detroit to try to figure out the problem. If after the engineer does his thing that would be the last step before the case be sent to some sort of litigation.

So that is where I am now. Will be contacted tomorrow around 10.

jimascenz

I had the check engine light on & the fuel gauge on "E" when it was full. In the end they changed 2 fuel sensors that fixed the problem. Before that they had me do the additive thing. That's just a waste of time & tempoary fix. I don't know why the dealers are still playing around with this.

sviper

It appears that they (Ford) may be getting their information together to have a recall on some portion of the fuel system, or at least a better pinpoint test for the TSB.

metroplex

There's a TSB for 2007 Ford Focus's erratic fuel gauge behavior and P0463 DTC... Sounds familiar?

sviper

Ok spoke with the service manager at 940 this morning and Ford engineering wants them to replace the smart junction box. The part has been ordered and will be in mid day tomorrow, at which point he will take it to the service station and fill up the tank, monitoring all PID’s hopefully this will correct the problem but if not he will update me and call Ford engineering again and at that point he believes that the gage cluster will be the next thing to be replaced.

So cross your fingers and hope this works. I will keep you all updated.

metroplex

The smart junction box is a weird beast indeed. The FSM does NOT show any of the inner workings. For example, the low beams are switched on by your master lighting switch, but the low current board inside the SJB actually feeds power to the low beams. You ask, "what is a low current board?" Good question. I have no idea other than that it might be some type of solid-state based circuit board similar to the LCM (Lighting Control Modules) used by other Fords.

sviper

won't know anything until tomorrow afernoon

but as always will up date

GtStallion51

Mine has given me a similar problem for a couple of months now, except mine will show "E" on the Gauge, "0 miles to emtpy" for a second and will then give the error "DTE FLI DATA ERR" ...... .... this all started off once or twice every other week, but now seems to be happening on a regular basis .....

sviper

Has the dealership told you to add Techron®?
If so it may solve the problem but then again once I get mine back and the problem is fixed then we will all know what the real problem is, and when Ford stats with the BS you all can refer back to this and get the problem fixed faster and have your baby back where she belongs.

sviper

Got some news form the dealership seems that replacing the smart junction box solved the problem, but they found calcium around the box which leads them to believe that there is a small leak. They are going to keep it one more day to have a guy come out and check for leaks he is known as the “WATER DR.” he specializes in leaks in autos. So tomorrow my baby will be coming home after almost three weeks in the shop.

Giddyup

Wow, reading about all this fuel gauge problem is worrisome indeed. I'm glad I don't have the problem (yet anyway). Does the onboard computer (miles till empty) still work? Still doesn't make it okay, but at least you can regulate where you're at on fuel during a road trip without running toally blind.....

sviper

On my V6 there is no miles to empty, but I was still able to gage where i was at since before I had the problem i knew i had about 360 to 390 to a tank and I always reset my tripomiter after filling.