2004 Infiniti M45: wrong fuel gauge reading

Filed Mar 14, 2012 · Fuel system · 62,000 miles · IL

This vehicle's year, make and model has a known fuel gauge issue that nissan/infiniti chose to ignore for the longest time. I thought I was one of the lucky ones because my car didn't have the issue but it happened back in september of 2011 while driving home from work. Luckily, it was only me in the car and I was able to coast onto the shoulder and call my wife to bring gas for me.

Filed Feb 28, 2012 · Fuel system · 74,000 miles · OH

This car has a well-known issue with the fuel gauge where it no longer works correctly. This resulted in my car running out of fuel as the instrument was not working correctly to notify me of my correct fuel amount, leaving me stranded on the highway. I believe this issue is already under investigation by the federal safety agency. A recall should have been issued for this as it is a manufacturer defect.

Filed Feb 24, 2012 · Fuel system · 112,000 miles · NJ

Hello, I own a 2004 infinity m45 and I wish to file a complaint. My gas gauge doesn't function properly and it reads half full at empty which caused my wife to stall out at night!!!!! On the highway!!!!! I thought it may have been just my car at first until I googled it realizing there are thousands of identical incidents. My check engine light is also on reading p0461 faulty fuel sensor. I hope someone can get infinity to fix this situation seeing its obvious that this is a manufacturing issue...thanks for your time in advance...

Filed Jan 17, 2012 · Electrical · 76,000 miles · CA

Purchased a 2004 infiniti m45 with 76k in may 2010. Within 2 days of buying the car the check engine light came on. I had it scanned and it said "fuel sending unit" so I replaced that part and the light went off. About 2 days later, the gas tank was about 1/4 tank shown, and I watched the fuel gauge needle move from 1/4 tank to "full" at the stop light. Shortly thereafter the check engine light came back on. I did a quick "google" search and found multiple online forums discussing this topic and the real fault is the gauge cluster. I contacted a local infiniti dealer and asked about the problem and was told "it's only happened a few times" but I had pages of other owners posting on the forums saying it had happened to them. The dealer told me it would be $800 to replace the gauge cluster, so I said "no thanks" and had my original cluster repaired with a lifetime warranty at bba remanufacturing and it has worked perfectly since september 2010. Prior to repairing the original one, I purchased a brand new gauge cluster on ebay, but it was not for my model with icc and nav, so I have spent money buying a gauge cluster and repairing my original one.

Filed Jan 16, 2012 · Fuel system · 45,000 miles · MD

My fuel gauge was showing a half a tank of gas and I ran out of gas stalling in the middle of an intersection. The vehicle is out of warranty do to time frame but well within the mileage. This continues to be a problem and I have run out of gas 2 additional times. The vehicle reads full 99% of the time but will drop down to about a half a tank every now and then (but not often), usually as it gets close to being empty. The dates and mileage for this compliant are not actually but are to my best guess.

Filed Jan 13, 2012 · Fuel system · AL

Car cut off due lack of gas, however, the fuel gauge was showing a half a tank.

Filed Jan 9, 2012 · Fuel system · 62,000 miles · FL

The fuel gauge on my 2004 infiniti stopped working. I was driving on the highway and my fuel gauge, read 2/3rds full, I ran out of gas in the middle of the road. I had to have the car towed to a repair shop, the fuel pump was replaced. To date the gauge will not go below 2/3rds no matter how much fuel is left in the tank.

Filed Jan 8, 2012 · Fuel system · 33,000 miles · NJ

My fuel gauge read 1/3 of a tank and I ran out of gas. I bought the car used in approximately jan 2009 and I bought an extended complete powertrain warranty. They initially thought it was my float mechanism in the gas tank but finally realized it was the dash and replaced it under warranty ($50 deductible applied). My warranty expired a few miles ago (car has 90500 miles on it now) and I have begun to notice the problem again. Currently I fill up after the trip odometer reaches 300 miles driven on a tank because while the gauge appears to work accurately, once it reaches 1/4 of tank left, it begins to rise and will go as high as 3/4 full. Sometimes turning the car off and then back on will reset it but it will soon begin to rise again. Very annoying and according to the dealer the dash costs $900+ (in 2009). Ramsey infiniti of ramsey nj did the work in 2009.

Filed Jan 2, 2012 · Fuel system · 88,000 miles · GA

I ran out of fuel lost all power @ 70 MPH with fuel gauge reading 1/4 tank. No accident but there was traffic in my immediate area and it was 9pm and dark.

Filed Dec 27, 2011 · Fuel system · 86,500 miles · AZ

While driving vehicle the fuel gauge and fuel remaining computer showed a significant amount of fuel left, almost half a tank. After a couple of minutes of driving the car sputtered and stalled. I pulled over and tried cranking the motor. After several failed attempts I noticed that the fuel gauge was now settled on empty. Checked the computer and it showed 0 miles till empty. Luckily my wife was able to bring me the gas for the lawnmower. This has happened several times since this initial incident. A couple times with just my wife and children in the car. Fortunately my wife's commute involves streets and avenues and no freeways or highways. I've communicated my issues on forums and blogs, turns out this is a common problem, and so far nothing has been done by infiniti to address this. The fix comes at a ridiculous price, dealer wants to change out gauge cluster, upwards of $1,000. I've been using the keep it full method, since I like the car, of course I shouldn't have to be doing this. I decided to file this report after reading that the federal safety agency was looking into the issue. Thank you.

Filed Dec 19, 2011 · Electrical, Fuel system · 112,025 miles · NC

I ran out of fuel on a busy highway in stop and go traffic because the fuel gauge registered full when the tank was actually empty. These gauges have major internal issues resulting in what may be a serious safety concern. *tr I'm not the only one (link below) and we are grateful to your organization to address this to the best of your abilities: http://forums.nicoclub.com/m45-fuel-gauge-problem-post-here-if-you-have-had-it-t316682.html.

Filed Sep 4, 2011 · Fuel system · 90,971 miles · MO

This car died on me on the highway when the fuel gauge said that I had a 3/4 tank of gas remaining. The car started sputtering like it had run out of gas so we added gas and it started right up. I drove it to a local infiniti dealership right away. They diagnosed the problem as in instrument cluster, which shocked me as I have never heard of an instrument cluster being responsible for a car running out of gas. I searched some online forums only to discover that there were hundreds of other people who had the same problem. Had the fuel sending unit or furl pump went out, that would be understandable, but the instrument cluster going bad could have been very dangerous. Since the cluster controls mileage and all the warning lights such as check engine lights, this was very scary. It seems that infiniti knows there is a problem with these as many of the people on the forums said infiniti had paid for a new instrument cluster. With this problem being so prevalent, I think it is very important for the federal safety agency to look into. I believe it should be a recall with the number of people having problems. Although my issue happened around 90,000 miles, there were many others that experienced the problem at 30 and 40,000 miles.