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Fuel gauge


furtive

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My fuel gauge bounces between empty and about 1/2 full after a while, making it a bit tricky to know how much is in there, so I've been errring on the side of caution and filling it up when it gets like this (and managing to squeeze about 12 litres in. Whirr click, whirr click, etc)

Is there any way to fix my wandering needle, or is it a case of TADTS?

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TADTS.

It's the way the sender is positioned in the tank - once the fuel level gets quite low the fuel surges around the tank (despite the baffling) and the sender just floats up and down.  I think there can still be 2 to 3 litres in the tank when the sender is just hanging down on its stops.  

I've run out of fuel twice and on both occasions I *knew* I was pushing my luck - best bet is to err on the side of caution and have a good idea of how many miles you can do on a tank and use that as your guage rather than the wobbly thing on the dashboard.  I used to get 150 miles or so with my Xflow so at about 120 I'd start looking for a petrol station.

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My needle tends to fluctuate a bit when the tank is below half full (standard Westfield supplied VDO gauges, sender etc. ) It's because when the fuel level gets lower, being a small tank anyway, the fuel sloshes around more which gives the float on the sender unit a hard time and the signal suffers from some hysteresis. I carried a gallon of fuel with me until I checked it out. I don't worry about the wandering too  much, having established roughly how many mpg the car does with differing driving conditions. But I found that when the needle hits empty and stays there I've got about 2 or 3 litres left so fill it at the first opportunity!

Hope this helps

Richard

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Yep, definitely TADTS!  Just mentioned it in another thread on my fuel pump problemo.  Use the mileometer and your intuition, much more reliable, and yes I know the car's faster with less fuel in it, but it's #### slow with none in it! :0   I tend to fill up at 120 miles regardless, or earlier if on back roads I don't know by heart - when it's running! :angry:

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If you always fill the tank when its half full, it costs less to fill it!!! - so you win all ways!

By the way, what does TADTS mean? - I'm thick

RS

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