petrol dial not working?,,,

[paulsmith]

Hi my petrol dial doesnt work, in chimaera,,,although the 'orange ' light does come on when low,,,im having to estimate how much petrol ive got left,,,,

Anyone have any ideas i can try, if its something simple or a known problem.

Ideas appreciated...

[sagalout]

wish I had a light....

[jj.]

Wish I could afford (at the moment) to put enough petrol in the car to make the gauge actually move…!!
jj

[PhilipC]

Could be the sender (sensor in petrol tank) or the gauge. My guess is that a working "low petrol" light says that it's the gauge. Whip the dash top off and slap a voltmeter across the gauge terminals to see if it's the gauge itself or the wiring. I've not got a low petrol light, so I don't know how that's wired in: anyone else got one of these?

PS: How old is the car? (checked profile, but you've not listed it...)

[Incorrigible]

Before you take the dash top off try the connector brhind the passenger seat (under the flap in the B pillar)

Anyone want to guess how I know this

[Morgala]

I had a very similar problem - the petrol guage would sometimes show the correct reading and then it would show nothing but emptiness. The dial moved up and down faster than the rev counter while i was driving.

Took it to the garage (Henley) they said it was either 1 of 2 problems, one being the sender.

Anyway the bloke checked the sender and everything was ok. He then checked the actual fuel guage cock-stop thing which is located in the boot (top part then pull away the carpet), and there it was, the wire connection was loose. simple as that.

i've only had the car 5 weeks and it's been a learning curve ever since.

[ribol]

On "normal" cars with a low level warning there are two output wires on the petrol tank sender unit instead of the usual one. One is the normal variable resistor output to the gauge, the second one is a make/break earth wire going to the gauge warning light. There may or may not be a separate Earth wire on the sender depending on how the tank is installed. If the warning light is working then the sender Earth and gauge supply is ok and warning light wire continuity must also be ok. The problem has to be the tank sender, the connection between the remaining wire and the gauge or the gauge itself.

Ivan