Fuel gauge problems: Few pips to many pips without adding gas

For most cases, the calibration procedure will not change anything, but for your situation, it might be appropriate.

The procedure touted as a "fuel gauge reset" is actually an inclination meter calibration and generally only needs to be done if the CM has been taken out and then reinstalled. The purpose of the inclination meter calibration procedure is to adjust the fuel sender signal to compensate for when the car is in an incline.

You need to find a flat and level surface on which to park the car in order to successfully calibrate the inclination meter.

I hope that helps.

 

Your fuel pump and your gas gauge are like pretty much all other Toyotas except you can't access the pump or the electronic device that sends the level to the gauge because the tank has a rubber bladder in it like a well tank for water in a rural house in the country if you will. Generally you're only option with this nonsense to change the tank I have a car that does this right now so I fill it up I drive it 480 mi and then I'm filling it up no matter what the car is telling me what the gauge is saying what my brain even thinks My phone and my app or my car tells me that I've been 480 mi I'm going to put 9.7 gallons in the car like clockwork and then I keep pumping until it belches back out at me I stretch that bladder out like a pregnant woman's tummy every time I fill the car up I'm looking to stretch that bladder back to like it was new because all rubber does with age and gasoline is shrink. Doing this with the '09 that I drive is my work vehicle daily has put my gas gauge back to accurate to within single pips if you will now I can look at my gauge and know almost exactly how many miles I've gone by how many pips are missing really. But I still go the 480 mi and fill the car up I don't really worry about the gauge of the flashing because I know how many miles have gone and how many miles the car will go until it runs out of gas flat. And that's no problem running out of gas pour a gallon and a half in out of the mower can push the start button and put the car in reverse to back out the parking space you'll hear the engine come on in just a second. Ideally if you really want to straighten the mess out it seems to me you'd want to get a gas tank from the United Kingdom maybe one of our folks here somebody over on Toyota mods we have a lot of people in the UK could get you a tank for probably very reasonable shipping would be prohibitive that's true but there's ways to skin that cat too but for a gas tank without a bladder and a replaceable pump I'd probably just bite the shipping I have friends over there now I'm looking into this for one or two of my generation twos at this moment I haven't gotten it resolved yet the tank and the shipping in other words.

 

The fuel level sender in the tank is not a precision part......nor is it very
robust.
It is not unusual for them to go bad with the time and mileage that you have.