Fuel Gauge Shows Empty and/or Distance to Empty Indicates “0” with Fuel Remaining – 2013-2015 Mazda

MULTI-MODEL – FUEL GAUGE SHOWS EMPTY AND/OR DISTANCE TO EMPTY INDICATES “0” WITH FUEL REMAINING

APPLICABLE MODEL(S)/VINS

2013-2015 CX-5

2014-2015 Mazda3 vehicles with VINs lower than JM1BM******230374 (produced before September 1, 2014)

2014-2015 Mazda6

 

Fuel gauge shows empty and/or the distance-to-empty on the multi-information display (MID) indicates “0” with a certain amount of fuel remaining in the tank.

 

This may be a normal operation of the fail-safe function:

1. If foreign material (contained in a poor-quality fuel) adheres to the fuel gauge sender unit, the fail-safe function initiates by forcing the fuel gauge and the distance-to-empty to indicate “zero fuel amount”.
2. Immediately after the foreign material is dislodged by shaking of the fuel during driving or refueling, the fuel gauge will return to a normal reading, but the distance-to-empty will continue to read “0” until the next refueling of 3 US gallons (10 liters) or more.

To correct the problem the following change has been made:

1. There is no mass-production change to prevent adhesion of foreign material to the fuel gauge sender unit. So the fact remains unchanged that the fuel gauge and the distance-to-empty indicate “zero fuel amount” when foreign material adheres to the fuel gauge sender unit, and the fail-safe function initiates.
2. To equalize the recovery timing from the fail-safe mode, the logic has been changed so that the distance-to-empty recovers from “0” to a normal reading immediately after the foreign material is dislodged (at the same time as the fuel gauge).

 

REPAIR PROCEDURE

1. Explain the following to the customer:
   • This is a normal operation of the fail safe function and not a malfunction, and that adhesion of foreign materials is an accidental occurrence with an extremely low recurrence rate.
   • If this occurs, rely on the fuel gauge instead of the distance-to-empty until the next fill up of 3 US gallons (10 liters) or more.
2. Disconnect and reconnect the negative battery cable.