Hello all, new to these forums but just bought my 5th Honda, a 94 Accord EX coupe.

Question about my fuel pump: When I turn my key to the up (ignition? (when all lights in cluster are on) position I hear a loud buzzing sound. When I start the car and drive around I can still kind of hear a buzz sound softly in the background. Last night as I was cleaning out my car I accidentally left the key in the ignition position and after about 35 minutes I noticed my fuel tank had gone from 3/4 to 1/2 full. I didn't do anything but leave the key in that position.

Does it sound like the fuel pump is bad? Do I have to replace it or can it be fixed? Did my fuel go down JUST because I left the key in the ignition position?

Never had this problem or heard this buzz sound in any of my previous cars. Any help would be great.


Thanks a lot!

 

The noise you are hearing is likely the fuel pump. It is a faint buzzing/whirling sound from the back seat, so that may be normal. When you turn the key to the II position, but do not try to start the car, that buzzing sound should only last for about two seconds (while the check engine light does its bulb check).

If you lost that much gas by just having the key in the ignition and the engine not running, then you would definitely smell gasoline.

You may have a problem with the fuel sending unit. That is what sends the fuel level to the gauge in the instrument cluster. I have read that using the chevron techron fuel cleaner may help with the sending unit or the low fuel light. I'm not convinced that it helps, but it is worth a shot.

You can also check the electrical connector to the sending unit. It is in the trunk near the back seat. There is a cover for the sending unit that you can remove to see it that connector is clean and tight. Near that cover there is a ground bolt that you may want to clean and tighten to ensure you have a good ground.

 

Thanks for the reply. Now that you mention it, I remembered that the guy who I bought the car from was saying the speedometer didn't work properly. He said it wouldn't work at all or go crazy every once in a while. Since I've driven it, nothing like that happened but now I'm thinking it might be the cluster that is having issues.

Is it possible that the fuel is actually still there but the gauge is incorrect? I definitely would have smelled fuel if it was leaking (I was in a garage) so it seems like it's either the fuel sending unit or maybe even the cluster.

Is there a way to check for this? So far it seems like the speedometer/rpm has been working properly. Once I get home I'll open up the trunk and take a look at the fuel sending unit to see if it's connected tightly.

 

So I checked all the connections with the sending unit, they all seemed okay. I unhooked them and wiped them down with a rag (there was a little bit of yellow gunk). After that I started the car and the fuel gauge went back up to 3/4 full. It seemed like it worked.

As I drove on the freeway the speedometer was going crazy and not working. After driving about 40 miles that day the tank went all the way down to about 1/2 full. I am driving on a spare tire, but I don't think that would affect the mileage that much, would it?

Would anyone know if the gas gauge is giving me a false reading or am I really getting that bad mpg?

Thank you in advance.

 

The only way to know for sure is to fill up the tank and see how much gas you added.

When the speedometer is not working, does the cruise control work?

 

Yes the cruise control works when the speedometer isn't working. What could that mean?

I figured that would be my last chance, filling the tank up and checking the mpg once it's empty. Hope my car isn't burning gas somehow...

 

I believe there is a power supply on the instrument panel. The fuel gauge uses 5V and input to the panel is 12V. A bad power supply might affect fuel gauge and speedometer. Some have removed the instrument panel and repaired cold solder jts or other circuit faults to repair. There are services (check www) that will repair IP for fixed fee, or you could buy a used IP (check car-part.com).

good luck