E36 M3 Fuel level sender
E36 M3 Fuel level sender
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Discussion

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

18,308 posts

230 months

Friday 2nd November 2012
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Folks,

Much to my chagrin my darling vehicle lied about having 1/4 a tank of fuel this evening and died on the way home. Having filled it up with Momentum and reset the mileometer the fuel gauge and range, etc are fluctuating between FULL!!!!1! and EMPTY!!!11!! so I think the level sender is borked.

How easy/difficult a job is this? Part looks like £50 on eBay is a pain but not a massive one.

Ta

4rephill

5,153 posts

204 months

Saturday 3rd November 2012
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Have a read here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=28&...

(along with the thread link)

It's a simple job to do and chances are that you don't need to replace the sender unit, you just need to solder a wire back on to a terminal on the underside of the unit (saving yourself £50 in the process!).

As mentioned in the those threads, if you have a jubilee clip holding on the fuel pipe then you're laughing!, but if it's the original factory clip then it can be a bit of a pain in the arse!

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

18,308 posts

230 months

Saturday 3rd November 2012
quotequote all
Thanks, I'm going to see how it goes- As it stands I have a full tank and a mileometer on zero so I'll keep an eye on it. Like I say, I've had it down to the light before and it's never run out on me, although the last couple of tanks have had a slightly erratic reading.

To be honest, it sounds like a fairly short job but one which is easy to cock up expensively so I might just splash out on an hour's labour (£50) at the garage (Which, according to you might save the £50 part!)

Serves me right for thinking "Oooh, that last £30 is lasting me well" hehe

I'm just relieved it explains why the car was a bit reluctant to start yesterday hehe

4rephill

5,153 posts

204 months

Saturday 3rd November 2012
quotequote all
Fair enough, but I would just say that it's an absolute piece of pcensoreds to do this job!

(The factory hose clips a bit of a pain but it's not too horrific, and the plastic nut that holds the sender to the tank can take a bit of removing [I used a bit of flat metal bar across the top of it to get it to turn], but it's all simple stuff really).

Hope you get it sorted without it costing too much! smile

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

18,308 posts

230 months

Saturday 3rd November 2012
quotequote all
Thanks, not too worried about the clip as it sounds like the one on the brake servo pipe which just needs destructive removal, have plenty of jubilee clips...