V8 Vantage - Fuel gauge problem
Discussion
The fuel gauge on my 2006 4.3 Vantage has always been slow to register re-fuelling (it could take 10 mins to show "full") but I assumed this was some form of damping to prevent oscillating level indications.
Last week, with half a tank of fuel in the car, the gauge needle dropped progressively over 20 minutes to show "empty" and the fuel computer warned ---- miles.
The next time the car was started, the reading was normal. The time after that "empty". The gauge now shows only about one quarter tank when full and at random drops slowly back to "empty"
I think that there are 3 probable causes
1) Faulty sender unit in fuel tank
2) Faulty gauge
3) An electrical glitch (ie computer problem) - Note the car runs perfectly well with the fuel computer on ---- miles!
Before I attack the wrong part of the car, does anyone have any experience or knowledge of this problem?
Thanks
Last week, with half a tank of fuel in the car, the gauge needle dropped progressively over 20 minutes to show "empty" and the fuel computer warned ---- miles.
The next time the car was started, the reading was normal. The time after that "empty". The gauge now shows only about one quarter tank when full and at random drops slowly back to "empty"
I think that there are 3 probable causes
1) Faulty sender unit in fuel tank
2) Faulty gauge
3) An electrical glitch (ie computer problem) - Note the car runs perfectly well with the fuel computer on ---- miles!
Before I attack the wrong part of the car, does anyone have any experience or knowledge of this problem?
Thanks
Problem! I pulled the car out to sort the tank connections in the sunshine. However when it started, the gauge read correctly (2/3 full). Longish journey, short journeys and all is well.
As the Vantage has cured itself, I cannot investigate the fault, unless it returns. Good news for me, but I suspect it may be temporary.
I will re-post when there is something to report.
As the Vantage has cured itself, I cannot investigate the fault, unless it returns. Good news for me, but I suspect it may be temporary.
I will re-post when there is something to report.
You can check the sender output with a multimeter, across the red/white and black and white wires (next to each other in the four-way plug) It should read 204 ohms with an empty tank and 10 ohms with a completely full tank. They also seem to suffer with integral resistance build-up in that plug, so well worth giving it a spray with some contact cleaner.
This just happened to me this past Saturday - pretty terrifying to watch the fuel gauge slide to zero over the course of half an hour while I'm in the middle of nowhere! I'll be checking all my wires and connections whenever I get the time in the next few days... I really hope it's a simple fix and it isn't the sending unit.
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