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fuel sending unit

15K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  gt601 
#1 ·
hey guys, i got an 04 armada and i think my fuel sending unit is going bad. Everytime i get gas it only fills up to 21 gallons on the pump and if I'm not mistaken it is a 29 gallon tank. And when i do fill up, the needle is about a hair or two under the full line on the gas gauge. Sooo...my question is, Is the fuel sending unit a separate component on the fuel pump, or is it built into the fuel pump? Would it be a good idea to just go ahead and buy an aftermarket pump such as bosche or carter since the OEM pumps are junk? thanks....
 
#2 ·
one fuel assembly

the fuel pump is mounted on the fuel pump assembly.

Also, all 04 Armada's are like that. The way the fuel tank was constructed was the flaw in this. If you search about this problem you will find out that we all got that same problem. If you actually run your Armada from when the low fuel indicator is lit You can probably get a little over a 100 miles on that red light. Which is about 8 gallons in the tank that you'll be using. So this is kind of a good thing if you think about it. atleast if your in the interstate and your gas light comes on. Atleast you know you got about another 100 miles to go before you get stranded. But some people have been calling this problem "highway robbery" because it forces them to gas up even though they still have 8 gallons to go. I believe they fixed this problem either on the 06 or 08 model not to sure. but search this topic and you'll read many of us complained about this. So no don't get a new fuel pump.
 
#3 ·
If Im not mistaken Nissan came out with a recall on the Fuel Sending Unit, or something to do with the fuel gauge...my VIN didnt qualify for the recall.
gt-leo is right though, I think all of us have found that we only fill up around 21-24 gallons after the light comes on (I think the specs say we have a 28 gallon tank), leaving plenty of fuel in the tank (I dont know that I would push it to 100 miles, but you should get 30-40mi easy, depending on how many gallons you have to fill up on when your light comes on).
I agree with gt-leo about this though, I dont see this as a "problem" I mean this helps us from burning up our Fuel Pump by running them dry, also its a nice little safety reserve when you think you are on empty.
 
#4 ·
Ok, that makes sense now. Because everytime my fuel light comes on I only have about 290 miles on the trip odometer. So I was thinking there is no way I can only go this far on a full tank. My dodge charger hemi gets well over 300 miles to a tank and it's only a 19 gallon tank. I might have to treat the armada like a motorcycle to where you just use the trip odometer as a fuel gauge. Thanks guys.
 
#6 ·
call.

some vehicles did come with the sending unit recall. but i know the 04 armadas weren't part of the recall. Kind of silly to me. But its ok since in my knowledge its kind of like a reserve fuel tank. From full to low warning light I get about 320 miles but thats constant down the interstate at 75-80 mph.

So spread the word about this. I just did this and they were very helpfull. You can call 1800NISSAN1. I told them I owned an ARMADA and just called to see if there are any recalls on my vehicle. Gave them my VIN number. They asked some personnel information. And after that they gave me a list of recalls I need to get done with my car. They are the ecm relay, bcm sub-harness, condenser fan. they told me where the closest NISSAN will be at and if thats the Nissan that I wanted to go to. And if I go to that Nissan they will already know what my vehicle needs. I know some of you guys live like a 100 miles away from a dealer so calling will help. Especially with the gas mileage now a days. sucks to drive just to find out that you dont have a recall on anything. I live about 30-35 miles away from NISSAN.

If you actually look at the fuel tank though its pretty long but not as high. I think its about 5-6 feet long but the height is like 12 inches. So once it gets like 2 inches in the bottom theres still alot of fuel in there still and the fuel sensor can't sense that low. Look under you armada on the driver side you'll know what i'm talking about.
 
#7 ·
I ran out of gas in my parking lot at work the other day, fuel low level warning light didn't come on. I think the fuel sending unit may be the problem (fuel gauge only ever shows below F no matter how much gas i put in it). I purchased the Armada a few weeks ago so im not sure if the truck has had this problem in the past (04, LE, 4x4 with 121k miles) spoke with the local dealership estimated cost to replace fuel sending unit $450. Think i will be getting to know a local non-dealership mechanic.
 
#10 ·
cheaper



Hey that fuel sending unit from Nissan parts assembly its self is about 265 dollars. So the remaining almost 200 is labor. I'm not sure if your a mechanic or not but that seems pretty steep to me. thats about a 3 hour job is how it seems like with that price of labor. I would order the parts myself and complete the job yourself. I know the 04's didn't have a recall for the gas tank. Hey you never know just call nissan maybe your vin had a recall on that gas tank. That would be nice in your case. Its true though I know you didn't mean to do it cause your gas tank assembly is messed up. But when its fixed try to gas up once the light goes on so it doesn't suck any debree and enter the engine. filters dont pick everything up.
 
#8 ·
The Fuel surrounds and cools the Pump. You never want to suck all the gas out of any tank. You will end up sucking air or dirt into the fuel delivery system. Be thankful they are telling us to fuel up when 8 gallons is in the tank It is the wiser way to go.
 
#9 ·
Wow... It makes me thankful to have a dealership 2mi down the road & another with in 20 mi...Im surprised some of you guys have to drive so far to get to a dealership, I bet there are 20 with in 100mi of me.
 
#11 ·
The trick to replace the pump is to lift the driver's side 2nd row seat up. Lift the carpet to see where the access cover for the pump is. Then take a utility knife to cut the carpet just enough to access the cover.
Take the cover off and you have access to the pump. Took me about 20 minutes to replace mine. The other option is to remove the rear seats and pull the carpet up.
I taped mine down with double sided carpet tape and you'll never see the cut.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
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