Fuel Gauge problems/ Fuel economy, ever heard of this?

Well today i finished my first tank of fuel since picking my car up on monday almost a week ago, and i did so in style.

I was hapily driving along and needed to overtake so i gave it a punch - and the car started to slingshot. I was thinking shit the clutch has shat itself untill it kept happening again and again and then it shut off and didnt start again.

Everything seemed to be fine, temp fine 1/4 of a tank of fuel left what could be the problem. So i walk to the nearest petrol station (NOT NEAR) and long story short filled it with a few litres and off to petrol station. filled it with 25 litres only to see the fuel guage move....not at all and since then hasnt moved an inch (50 odd k's later) I looked at the trip guage and i got 650km to the tank, which i was pretty impressesed with.

So what im asking is, is this a known fault with is200s? The fuel gauge deciding to just stop working...?

and what sort of fuel economy are you guys getting to the tank?

Thanks for your time

Not a known problem.

I average around 450-500 km (normal driving) between refills. (before the empty warning lamp lights).

I've never heard of it before, but I'm glad you took the mileage!

So you got 10L/100km out of the 65L. I usually get 9.2L/100Km on a fast trip in the country with a 3SGE. That's 120kph in twisty winding roads but rarely foot on the floor.

There is a post somewhere about fuel usage in IS/Altezzas where everyone wrote in what they got.

I assume it is either a tank sensor problem or a voltage regulator problem in the guage. It sounds like an auto-electricians job.

Good luck with it-

I chew through a mean 9.3 L/100 km (st. dev. 0.4, range 8.5 - 10.0).

I get somewhere around 500km from approx 55ltrs in city driving..

If i do coast trips (highway driving) i get just over 600kms

Gee Whiz Jason, that's a bit scientific innit??

It's what you get when you have an iPAQ with Excel...

Need it for my job (and also use it for mp3s) so it's always with me and I just note down the kms and litres at each fill.

Hee hee, how about a histogram of the distribution...


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Oh dear...and i thought i was geeky making a quick note in the calender of my P910 at each fill...!

I suppose i could coalate the data....maybe i just send it to you Jase!

Hey - back to topic. I have noticed, in my car at least, that the fuel gauge doesn't drop that much whilst driving. That is to say, it will drop, but when you shut down and start up again, it usually returns to a lower position then it was previously, as if it has decided, actually, you have less fuel then i originally thought. The service manager at Lexus told me they all do this.... which i find hard to believe. It does drop during driving, but it's as if it's not showing acurately how much? My old Cressida had a similar gauge, which was electronic in that it would show you how much fuel you had left, based on your current consumption. However, it would update on the fly, with the IS200, it's as if it only updates once you have switched the car off/on.

For the record also, i get about 550-600km city driving before the light comes on, running on PULP. Got as far as 650 nefore the light came on with continous country driving during the holidays.

didnt notice any obvious problem with my fuel gauge. but I 'll pay more attetntion to it

I use PULP, mix of city/hwy, 6MT (suppose to be more thirsty than 4AT according to fuel label) usually ~11.5km/L. best I have done ~ 12+km/L hwy.
I go over 600km easily for each tank.


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i had a similar problem with my is200 15months ago. it ended up being a fuel sender on the passenger side on out of calibration, but it was replaced under warrenty though
try diconnecting the battery for at least 15minutes as this will allow the fuel gauges to recalibrate themselves (as per factory fault finding). this may fix the problem, if it doesn't then see steve from service department at lexus of chatswood and he'll know how to fix the problem. My fuel economy is 625-675km of ULP around town with the climate control always turned on, freeway/highway is 700-740km both will consume 60ltrs