I've had 2001 Lumina a little over a week now, and am finding all kinds of interesting little things broken or missing, I have observed that my gas gauge bounces between full and 1/2 full, even if I am out of gas.

Occasionally it will drop down to say the 1/4 mark, but will bounce right back up to full, back to 1/2...you get the picture.

I'm not sure what a safe mileage is to watch for on the tripometer, any ideas? I could just reset it at each fill up.

But I would really like to know how to fix it, any ideas?

Thanks in advance

On one tank of gas with average driving (town/country) you should get 300 miles / tank. give or take depending on driving. Sound like you may need a new sending unit which is the device that determines how much gas is in the tank. This unit it located in the tank itself and requires removing a tank for replacement. The price for parts is roughly $120/$180 for assemply with fuel pump. These prices do vary from region to region. Labor will be another $100 or so.

mine does the same thing. it was frustrating for awhile but then i learned that when i was in the "oh shit" zone it would finally stay there. the one thing that does bother me is there is no "you're out of gas" light. amazingly enough i've never ran out of gas but i have been below both redlines many many times. mine only starts fluctuating by a 1/4 tank when it gets to about halfway betweeen 1/2 tank and 1/4 tank. and what did i say before when you were all excited about having a lumina..."wth were you thinking"