Narrative:

While enroute at 9;000 ft; we experienced a power failure. Unable to maintain assigned altitude; I switched fuel tanks; selected full rich mixture and informed center of my inability to maintain altitude and a desire to be vectored to the nearest airport. He gave me a vector and then handed me off to greer approach. Greer approach frequency was busy; so while waiting for a chance to transmit; I rechecked my procedures and turned on the electric boost pumps. The engine came up to full power and we leveled off at 7;000 ft altitude. Suspecting an engine driven fuel pump failure; I left the electric pump on its low setting; contacted greer approach; and informed them we were under power again. They asked what we wanted to do; and I informed them that we would continue to the destination airport; columbia; sc; which was approximately 75 miles away. I chose this action due to the fact that I only had approach charts for origin and destination airports and knew the weather to be IFR in the area. We continued without incident and landed. We had a mechanic check into the condition of the plane and determined that the left fuel tank was empty; although the left fuel gauge showed more than half a tank. There was no problem with the engine driven fuel pump. I refueled and visually checked that both tanks were topped off and the fuel gauges showed full on both tanks. Knowing the left fuel gauge worked properly for the top 1/3 portion of the tank and the right gauge worked properly I elected to return home to have the gauge repaired. I made certain to time the flight and fuel burn rates.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 210 suffers engine failure due to fuel starvation when fuel gauge indicated half full although actually empty. A tank change and activation of the electronic fuel pump restarted the engine.

Narrative: While enroute at 9;000 FT; we experienced a power failure. Unable to maintain assigned altitude; I switched fuel tanks; selected full rich mixture and informed Center of my inability to maintain altitude and a desire to be vectored to the nearest airport. He gave me a vector and then handed me off to Greer Approach. Greer Approach frequency was busy; so while waiting for a chance to transmit; I rechecked my procedures and turned on the electric boost pumps. The engine came up to full power and we leveled off at 7;000 FT altitude. Suspecting an engine driven fuel pump failure; I left the electric pump on its low setting; contacted Greer Approach; and informed them we were under power again. They asked what we wanted to do; and I informed them that we would continue to the destination airport; Columbia; SC; which was approximately 75 miles away. I chose this action due to the fact that I only had approach charts for origin and destination airports and knew the weather to be IFR in the area. We continued without incident and landed. We had a Mechanic check into the condition of the plane and determined that the left fuel tank was empty; although the left fuel gauge showed more than half a tank. There was no problem with the engine driven fuel pump. I refueled and visually checked that both tanks were topped off and the fuel gauges showed full on both tanks. Knowing the left fuel gauge worked properly for the top 1/3 portion of the tank and the right gauge worked properly I elected to return home to have the gauge repaired. I made certain to time the flight and fuel burn rates.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.