hey i have a 2001 accord ex and i noticed this morning that the fuel needle had gone to full after i started the car. i had half a tank yesterday, so unless my fairy godmother filled the tank as i slumbered, i think something is amiss.

the needle did not move after driving some distance, nor has it reset after turning the car off and back on again (i know it's an IT trick but hey).

there is one other issue, no idea if related; the radio will sometimes "freeze" on or off and i have to pull the fuse, or it will reset on its own and lose all the programmed channels.

i could rebuild a carburator, but electrical is beyond my ken. any ideas? am i going to have to pull the level sender, or is it the cluster, or some gremlin i just have to live with?

 

If the 98-02s are like the 90-97s, an open circuit would cause the fuel gauge to peg to full.
Any recent work done?
Is the radio factory or aftermarket?

 

thanks for the reply
no recent work has been done, except an oil/filter change.
the radio is factory, and has been up to its... tricks for several years now.
the needle does go back down to empty when the ignition is turned off, but still shoots right up to full.

 

Could be just a loose connection at the dash connection. I would advise against touching any of the screws that mount the fuel gauge. If it is like the 94-97s the screw goes into a plastic nut that is also the landing for the very thin gauge wiring. The nut will spin and snap the wire off if you look at the screw, this will cause the gauge to peg. Badly engineered/executed design.
When you turn the car to I(OFF) or Lock(removed key) does the cigarette lighter still work?
If so then there may be a problem with the accessory power circuit or the ignition switch itself. I know there were several similar radio issues during the 98-02 era with various makes. Subraru single CD players are known to go completely bonkers with only being able to be shut off(no control of the radio at all) and only pulling the clock/memory fuse would fix it.
I think it was part of the capacitor plague of the early '00s. But I could be wrong. If it is the radio itself, then it will need to be replaced or refurbished.
Gauges are made to go back to 'zero' when power is removed. That is normal.

 

i'll have a look at the harness to see if there is anything obvious.
as far as the cig lighter goes... it doesn't normally work with the ignition at off or lock, but i will have to wait on the radio to freeze up to test if that changes this.