gas needle

[Semtex]

when i start up me car the gas needle rises up to where the gas would be filled to in the tank, 1/4,1/2 whatever but the thing is, is that the car has never done that untill tonight.

it normally stayed at where ever the gas needle was when the car was shut off, ie the neetle never moved

is this normal? anyone else have this happen?

causes?????

thanks

[BoostedPro]

If I remember correctly, all the gauges should bottom out when the car is off. All the guages except for the speedo, read off a power signal, so it would kind of make sense that when the ignition is off, the guages would be at minimum due to the fact that they are not being fed a signal. I'll check in a few hours (right now it's 3:24 am here so i don't wanna wake anyone up).

[MazdaMadness]

my case: the car is not working and the needle is up!

[MazdaMadness]

the needle works just fine! she goes down and back up when i fill it up!
there is one problem, it wont go all the way down to "empty", gets stuck somewhere around 1/4 of tank.
how does our cars measure amount of gas in tank? does it have a small buoy which floats or is it some other way?

[MazdaMadness]

yes what? a buoy?
i think that i know one possibilty why it doesnt goes below 1/4, my mom smashed the fuel tank from below (that is possible) on some rock, and now the buoy wont go all the way down because the tank is damaged

[Boston]

My 91 owner's manual says that the fuel gauge is designed to show the amount of fuel in the tank at all times. My gauge does not go to zero when the key is in the off position.

[MazdaMadness]

then everything is ok with mine... except dent