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2013 Fusion - cant fill gas tank

66K views 110 replies 23 participants last post by  jinx8402 
#1 ·
Hi all,

Just got my 2013 Fusion SE. Company car actually.

Im having a real hard time filling up the gas tank. The 2010 Fusion had a cover on the tank spout but this is different. Its almost like a gas cap now that has a cover you push thru now.

No problem getting the gas spout in. However over the last 3 fillups Ive been about 3 gallons under full. I can force it by pumping it but it takes a while and have to do it at least 10 times. I havent had it overfill yet and spill out on the ground. I know its supposed to be like 15 gallons to full.

Ive got an average of 30 MPG on the system and max out at about 400 miles when I fill the tank as much as I can so I know theres more room.

When I got the car there was hardly any gas, about 50 miles to empty. I filled it up and only got 12.5 gallons in it.

Any ideas?
 
#86 · (Edited)
The DTE is an approximation, Take it with a grain of salt. I can top off my tank, it says 477 DTE. Then drive 100 miles, averaging 33MPG, and it'll say 400 DTE. It's not foolproof, stop using the Distance-to-Empty to gauge the amount of fuel physically sloshing around that tank.

You want to know the exact capacity? Fine. Drill a hole in your tank, drain the fuel out, JBWeld it, then fill it.

They list the volume of the tank. You are not going to get every last drop out of it. Deal with it. If you're really being inconvenienced by the last two or three gallons you are going to be a hell of a lot more inconvenienced by the premature fuel pump replacement running it that low so frequently.

In-town, your speed is so low that it'd take an entire day of driving to drain the tank, and there's likely a gas station every couple blocks. On long-distance highway, your range is negligible because you can still get 350+ miles per tank on a V6. Since people with lifted 4x4 trucks don't have range issues, our midsize sedans won't.

Mountains out of molehills. And those of you who are pumping a dozen clicks past the autoshutoff? Really? OCD much?

</angry>
 
#88 ·
Thanks for your generous help...some clarification.

Clicking a dozen times is not ocd when it results in 2+ additional gallons being added to the tank...it is simply a way of working around a defect in the car that requires some additional patience to overcome until Ford provides a solution. You might want to re-read the report of my service visit in which the technician monitored the fill-up...

Now if you want to drive around filling up at 1/2 a tank to preserve your fuel pump, go right ahead...it's a free country! But why is it anything to you if we prefer to drive our cars to "E"?

And we already know the exact sizes of the tanks...it's in the manual, so we don't need to drill into our brand new (warrantied) cars. Its a new car that has an issue...if you don't care, simply ignore the thread and press on...the rest of us would like to get to the bottom of it without getting a bunch of hostility or insults. Seems like a reasonable request. Right?

As far as mountains and molehills? Maybe we should all just accept it if they put 18 inch rims on our cars when they advertised (and we paid for) 19 inch rims...maybe we should all just be fine with getting a 1.6 L motor in place of a 2.0 L...I mean the car still drives and does it's job...there's no real significant issue...right? Range is as much a specification as mileage is...no one should be belittled for expecting the car to perform to spec...regardless of whether you deem the spec to be worth worrying about or not.

And one last item...people with 4x4 trucks don't have range issues because they have HUGE gas tanks...or even multiple tanks...this is actually a design consideration accounted for by the engineers at the auto-makers...one that they considered when putting a 17.5 gallon tank in the AWD version and a 13.5 gallon tank in the Hybrids...they were trying to keep all of the cars within a target for overall range. Shocking, huh?

Now, would it be too much to ask you to allow us to continue to collect data and assist each other as we work to help Ford figure out this very real issue?

not </angry>...just really annoyed...
 
#87 ·
I understand DTE is only a best guess estimate. My observation was the fact that my low fuel indicator came on only slightly above 'E' and when it hit 'E' when distance to empty was sitting at 1 it was still yellow, it did not turn red. All I said was I think the car still knows its has usable gas left which is why the warnings didn't come up faster. Most cars I've driven have that indicator come on with about 1/8th of a tank remaining (maybe a little less than that). That was all. I have realized, in my experience with the car, that it calculates and displays the "fullness" of the tank with about a 3.5 gallon reserve. I never drove any of my cars with less than 1/4 tank for the exact reason of keeping the fuel pump happy. Knowing there is still 3.5 gallons in the car when it hits "empty" (according to the gauge) just means I know there is just under 1/4 tank. With that said, I am fine with driving the car closer to empty if I need to.
 
#89 ·
Made my first trip to the gas station today in my Fusion. Had less than an 1/8th of a tank. I forget what the DTE was but it was under 50. I did my usual 3-clicks like on all of my previous vehicles and it took 12.12 gallons.

I also noticed that the fuel gauge reported a hair over full when pulling away, but when I made my first harder left on the way home it dipped below full but went back again. Struck me as odd, but this is my first digital fuel gauge.

Not saying something is wrong or nothing is wrong. Just sharing my experience since I've been following this thread.
 
#91 ·
Strytnyne...I have tried this...trust me. And I have tried multiple gas stations. I'm glad for you that you have been able to reduce the times the pump clicks off on you, though.

I have experimented with venting the tank by pulling the nozzle out and then re-inserting it...I have also tried the wait a minute and then pump. The latter seems to have more effect than anything else so far. If I find something to do for a few minutes after the pump clicks, then each successive click nets more fuel. (This is not a strength for me...the waiting...lol).
 
#93 ·
Seriously...I have tried everything...settled on a reasonable, if tedious, workaround...

Even tried something new today that ended up keeping the pump for shutting off when it should and spilled a fair amount down the side of the car and onto my shoes...oh well...back to waiting it is. At least with the waiting, the car and I stay dry and gasoline smell free :)
 
#95 ·
Well...I was in the second gallon after the first click off when it over-flowed...but that was poor nozzle management by me...once I pulled the nozzle out and re-inserted it, I got another gallon in without it continuing to overflow...fun times

The first click off was at 12.6 gallons...total fill was over 15 (even accounting for the gas that hit the ground)
 
#96 ·
So far I have gotten an extra gallon in 2 of (and the only times I tried) of my 3 fillups. I did have a little spill out the first time but I am pretty sure at this point it was because I was quickly squeezing in the handle. It's also been pretty obvious that Full to DTE 0 for my car is 13 Gallons. Hit 12.9 at DTE 5-10 and 12.75 at DTE 15.
 
#97 ·
My car showed 15.5 gallons used since my last fill-up when I pulled in to the station today about 2 miles past 0 DTE. I was able to get about 15.4 gallons in before the clicks became immediate when I tried to continue fueling. This was after the first click off at 12.6.

Based on this, I had about a gallon fuel left which is consistent for the low fuel warning I got and the DTE reading. It should hit 0 at about 10% fuel left in the tank...or approx 1.5 gallons of the 16.5 gallon capacity.
 
#101 ·
That is because of a two fold attack. I in my 2.0 could get about 370-380 in all HWY mile maybe eek in the the into the low 400's. But I seem to be getting a little bit better MPG then a lot of others on the HWY, (29.5-30 on a 72 MPH cruise). But in the end the 2.5 is going to be a little more forgiving of speeds and random accelerations then the 2.0. The other is actually being able to fill up the tanks. If I could get the 15 G (not counting the ~1.5 G reserve that is apparently what the computer hides when telling DTE). That would be an additional 60+ Miles compared to what I am getting now. If I dropped to like 69 or so, I might be able to pull off 500. But I can't because I am to impatient and I don't want to worry about gas leaks every time I refill.

In the end most tanks sizes are decided for about a 350-400 M distance on HWY with some variance. But what is basically happening is between people getting well below EPA (some people have at best seen 26 instead of the 33 HWY EPA) and not being able to fill the tank (~13 G max). People are going from a 495 M HWY 390 M Mixed to a 338 M HWY and a 273 M Mixed range. That is 160 mile difference between what was told by Ford and what people a lot are seeing. If it was one or the other. Specially if it was just the EPA issue. I don't think people would mind as much but with those two biggest things that affect range there is a big issue.
 
#107 ·
After reading through most of these pages I have the same problem. Filling up she usually takes about 11 gallons when slightly under 1/4 tank. I've never had it go over 370 DTE. Even when it does show that high upon filling up it very quickly drops to 325 range. I drive 80% highway 20% city. avg this week is 27 mpg. It would be great to get over 400 per tank!
 
#108 ·
I used to track an excel with my MPG from my 2012 2.5L and I can say for sure it got better gas mileage (~28-32), but it did have 65 less hp. The 2.0L is much more fun to drive. I commented somewhere else, if you cruise going 68-72mph all highway you will see the EPA estimated 33mpg. I've gotten 32mpg through hilly roads in SE Ohio (this is after manually filling it up and not trusting the computers on-board). I also got 34mpg+ cruising from Columbus to Cleveland and back all in a day (manually filling up also).

I will say my gas mileage has steadily improved also as I've put miles on the car. I'm just over 9k now.
 
#109 ·
So. There is finally a TSB out for the gas tank regarding the issue of not accepting a full-fill. It is for the non-Hybrid, non-AWD Fusions as far as I know and it does include replacing the gas tank. My dealer is ordering my parts now and I will be getting the work done as soon as they arrive. I am also going to get the headliner TSB taken care of at the same time.

For the record, the Fuel tank TSB is not the same thing as the Fuel Pump Recall. I will have that addressed on my car as well, but it will have to wait until parts are available later this year.

I will keep folks posted on my experiences and results as I have thus far.
 
#110 ·
OK! I got the tank TSB installed this week and filled up for the first time last night.

Notes:
  • They installed an update to the dash programming for the DTE issue. DTE caution (Amber) came on at 35 miles this time...never came on until less than 20 before
  • With 12 miles DTE, I filled up and the first pump shut off was at 14.2 gallons!!! Easily 2 gallons past where it had ever been before.
  • Total fill was 14.9 gallons using 3 clicks...seems right considering 10% (1.6 gallons) should be left at 0 DTE...

All-in-all, I am very pleased with the results thus far...

Also, there is a TSB out for the headliner issue and another one for the trunk not staying open on the cars with deck lid spoilers. I recommend you guys get in touch with your dealers ASAP and get these installed.
 
#111 ·
I had part of the TSB done the other day as well. The tech wanted to do the Instrument cluster flash, and wants me to to drive for a while to see if that fixed the issue for me. He said if I was still having a hard time getting close to 15 gallons in to call back and they would order the new fuel tank.

My notes are as follows:
  • Dropped car off with 20 miles to empty, no yellow light
  • Picked up car with 40 miles to empty (they did not add any gas), yellow light now on
  • Drove to about 5 miles to empty and was able to add 14.75 gallons

I think I am happy with that. Before the most I ever got in was 12.75 gallons. Like I said previously, it seems some cars definitely have a fuel tank issue, while most (if not all) MyFord Touch equipped cars have a cluster calibration issue.
 
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