billiethezwerg
21-06-2013, 02:50 PM
Hi all,
this has probably been done loads of times but reading the forums my problem probably appears slighly different/changed.
First had a problem with the fuel gauge "overreading". i.e. with a full tank the needle would be well past full (fully to the right). The low fuel warning lamp would "correctly" come on when the needle got to just under half full (e.g. in my case as I'm in Germany I'd do roughly 700km from full before the warning lamp came on). Lived with the problem as always reset my Trip when I filled up and was happy that the warning lamp was still working. This morning however when I switched on the ignition the Low fuel warning immediately came on despite the fact I had only driven 440km. The fuel gauge needle was well below half way. Filled up to make sure I wasn't going mad and only put in 27litres (about right as I normally use 6l/100km). So before getting my hands dirty and changing the tank sender was wondering if there are a few checks to do.
e.g. Reading other forums it seems that the sender resistance output on pins 2 & 3 of the sender unit are from 47 - 280 ohms (full scale deflection of the float full/empty).
Does anybody know if this is linear i.e. half a tank ~ 160 Ohms
Any reason why I couldn't put a potentionometer or resistors across the corresponding pins on the sender cable (to the gauge) just to be 100% sure that the gauge itself is or is not correctly working. All other gauges on the binnacle are working correctly
this has probably been done loads of times but reading the forums my problem probably appears slighly different/changed.
First had a problem with the fuel gauge "overreading". i.e. with a full tank the needle would be well past full (fully to the right). The low fuel warning lamp would "correctly" come on when the needle got to just under half full (e.g. in my case as I'm in Germany I'd do roughly 700km from full before the warning lamp came on). Lived with the problem as always reset my Trip when I filled up and was happy that the warning lamp was still working. This morning however when I switched on the ignition the Low fuel warning immediately came on despite the fact I had only driven 440km. The fuel gauge needle was well below half way. Filled up to make sure I wasn't going mad and only put in 27litres (about right as I normally use 6l/100km). So before getting my hands dirty and changing the tank sender was wondering if there are a few checks to do.
e.g. Reading other forums it seems that the sender resistance output on pins 2 & 3 of the sender unit are from 47 - 280 ohms (full scale deflection of the float full/empty).
Does anybody know if this is linear i.e. half a tank ~ 160 Ohms
Any reason why I couldn't put a potentionometer or resistors across the corresponding pins on the sender cable (to the gauge) just to be 100% sure that the gauge itself is or is not correctly working. All other gauges on the binnacle are working correctly