I was on my way home from school today enjoying the beautiful weather when all the sudden the engine starting sputtering, RPM"* flucuated rapidly, until they reached about 300, then the engine totally died on me leaving me stranded on the side of the road.. I went to start it to see if it would, and it was a no go, it would start, sputter, then die.. Then comes an aweful screaching sound from the back of the car--the fuel pump. argh. I call my dad and tell him to bring gas because my guess is that it just ran out. He gets there, he only has 1 gallon of gas. I put that in there, and bingo.. she starts.. I was about 3 miles from home so I drove about 75 all the way because I didn't want it to die again. well, it did die, but luckily it died just as I was pulling in the driveway. Here'* the kicker, I WAS totally out of gas, but my GAUGE READ HALF A FREAKIN TANK! So, my question, is what is wrong with my gas gauge.. When I get to half a tank, the gauge usually goes back to full and will stay there for a while, then when I get to where a quarter of a tank SHOULD be, it'll go to empty and stay there, and sometimes go up a little bit higher (as high as 3/4 of a tank.) so basically, as soon as I get to below half a tank, the gauge is not accurate at all. Is this most likely a problem with the instrument cluster, or does it sound more like a bad sending unit? A GM mechanic told me they'd have to charge $170 JUST to look at it and tell me what it 'could be.' I told him to tell me what his best guess would be on that car, and he said his best guess is a bad instrument cluster. I don't know what it could be, I just need to get it fixed. I don't want to take the chance of getting stranded again in the middle of nowhere. Thanks!

I would venture to guess it is the sending unit/float assembly at the fuel tank. This seems to be a common failure. Learn to use your trip meter as a fuel gauge during the interim period until you get the other resolved, if you decide to. I always use the trip meter as a back up anyways, and never soley rely on that fuel gauge on the IP.

I'd been using that. I usually get 500 miles per tank, but today I ran out when I had only gone 400 miles. I had planned on getting gas today too. bad timing I guess.

Do you not have a DIC that tells you approx. how many miles left?

no, and even if I did have one it wouldn't be accurate anyways because it still gets the same readings from the sending unit that the gauge gets. It only calculates your MPG and how many gallons are left, nothing more.

I had the same problem w/ my 97..... I was totally out of gas but the gauge read 1/2 tank.
I just use my trip now... I get around 420km per tank. You're getting 500miles? That'* awesome mileage almost double mine.... I'm assuming you're car has the same gas tank size as mine.

It'* 20 gallons. I average 24 MPG in the winter and around 26-28 MPG in the summer.

What I would be tempted to do is remove the float assy and disconnect the power to your fuel pump (fuse), turn the key on while a friend watches the gage, move the float while they check what the fuel gage reads. This would at least tell you if the floats rheostat is working (without dead spots). Only problem is, I didnt see what year car, but would have to assume you'll still havta drop the tank.