| Author | Post |
|---|
Graham Bichard
Member
|
Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 07:38 am |
|
Ian,
This subject keeps cropping up - if you get a definitive answer I'm sure there'll be a lot of appreciative people out there.
As for me, 200 motorway miles then fill up, 240 other road miles then fill up (and always have a full jerry can incase you can't remember the mileage when you filled up  ).
And I've repeatedly tried the 'run it down, fill it up - it'll reset itself' sketch - hasn't worked yet (don't think it will!). And the truth is I can't be bothered to faff with the sender unit!. I stop as soon as it starts coughing to fill up and haven't had any problems with getting the car through the MOT (so can't think the cat will be too badly damaged but I do always make sure the car is throughly warm and had a good thrashing to clear the exhaust before putting it in).
Last edited on Monday November 12th, 2007 07:42 am by Graham Bichard |
jamesquintin
Member
|
Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 09:10 am |
|
Yo
My wife came up with a good observation. She only did comutting driving on a tank, so same journey thought the 'life' of a tank of fuel. She thinks that the first half gets used more quicly than the last, which makes me think that the way the arm falls as the fuel level goes down isn't even.
I just fill up when the fuel guage is right over the red line
Q
|
DaveShreeve
Administrator
|
Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 10:02 am |
|
jamesquintin wrote: I just fill up when the fuel guage is right over the red line
Q
James, I think that's where we started. The complete inconsistency between cars; some will take 3 gallons from the red line, others 7. If your lucky enough to get a reasonable fill when on the red line great, otherwise your left with remembering the mileage when you filled up.
|
hawaiianblue
Member
|
Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 08:18 pm |
|
| Indeed, it's a fairly crude sender unit.
|
Toffs
Member
|
Posted: Friday November 23rd, 2007 05:10 pm |
|
 Just bought a 98 Cooper Sports... Filled her up, drove 155 miles.
At the end of the trip the gauge was showing totally empty. Filled her up again, and she took 14.5 litres !!!  The tank holds 34ltr no? The gauge on a full tank only shows 3/4s too.
 Ideas ?
|
fyp741c
Member
| Joined: | Saturday March 18th, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 142 |
|
Posted: Friday November 23rd, 2007 06:49 pm |
|
| i used to fill mine up when I heard a loud ticking sound from under the rear subframe
|
DaveShreeve
Administrator
|
Posted: Friday November 23rd, 2007 08:30 pm |
|
fyp741c wrote: i used to fill mine up when I heard a loud ticking sound from under the rear subframe
Don't try this on a Cooper Sport - it doesn't happen!!
|
taffy1967
Member
|
Posted: Saturday November 24th, 2007 02:41 pm |
|
Toffs wrote:
Just bought a 98 Cooper Sports... Filled her up, drove 155 miles.
At the end of the trip the gauge was showing totally empty. Filled her up again, and she took 14.5 litres !!! The tank holds 34ltr no? The gauge on a full tank only shows 3/4s too.
Ideas ?
Connect the 2 fuel tank spade terminals together with a paper clip, switch on the ignition and then look at the gauge. With the 2 terminals connected the gauge should rise to full.
To get at the spade terminals, you'll first have to remove the plastic cover off the side of the fuel tank and if the gauge does read full then the fault is with the tank sender unit, which is quite common on later models.
I've heard you can remove it and bend the float/wire to try and get a more accurate reading?
If the gauge stubbornly refuses to read full (rarely happens though), then the fault is either with the wiring or the actual gauge itself.Last edited on Saturday November 24th, 2007 02:47 pm by taffy1967 |
Toffs
Member
|
Posted: Monday November 26th, 2007 11:18 pm |
|
Thanks Taffy, I'll give it a 'bend' sometime 
|
Current time is 12:41 am | Page:   1 2 |
|
