Discussion
Just taken delivery of new Esprit.
Is there a common problem with the fuel gauge on the Esprit?
On the drive home to Scotland from St Albans I stopped for fuel twice whith the gauge showing approx 1/8th tank and expected to draw at least 50 litres. I could only squeeze in 30 - 35 litres.
Anyone else have this problem?
Is there a common problem with the fuel gauge on the Esprit?
On the drive home to Scotland from St Albans I stopped for fuel twice whith the gauge showing approx 1/8th tank and expected to draw at least 50 litres. I could only squeeze in 30 - 35 litres.
Anyone else have this problem?
As adrian said "they all do that sir".
The esprit has two tanks connected by a balance pipe. What you see on the fuel gauge whilst driving is the effect of the fuel surging from one tank to the other - only one (the drivers side) has the sender, hence the gauge reading is always "approximate". You get used to it.
Oh, and vws - this also should explain why it takes a long time to fill. You say your dealer does not know why...
Hmmnnn... he knows a lot about esprits then does he? 
The esprit has two tanks connected by a balance pipe. What you see on the fuel gauge whilst driving is the effect of the fuel surging from one tank to the other - only one (the drivers side) has the sender, hence the gauge reading is always "approximate". You get used to it.
Oh, and vws - this also should explain why it takes a long time to fill. You say your dealer does not know why...
Hmmnnn... he knows a lot about esprits then does he? 
rob.ellis said:
Oh, and vws - this also should explain why it takes a long time to fill. You say your dealer does not know why...
You're right Rob, that's my problem in Belgium.
Anyway, my previous car was a 1996 V8 and i never had a problem to fill the tank... so what?
Can you open both tanks ? My GT3 only opens on the drivers side so it's harder to fill. My last esprit opened both sides. I always opened both and could maybe fill 80% via one tank before using the other one.
The first time I did this ( after having my 86 N/A for about 20 miles ) I filled one tank up as I could not get in the other one. As I drove out of the petrol station the guage showed full. 50 miles later, after the tanks had balanced out, the guage showed half full. I nearly sh*t myself as I thought I'd done 50 miles on half a tank !!!
Adrian
www.adrianmugridge.co.uk
The first time I did this ( after having my 86 N/A for about 20 miles ) I filled one tank up as I could not get in the other one. As I drove out of the petrol station the guage showed full. 50 miles later, after the tanks had balanced out, the guage showed half full. I nearly sh*t myself as I thought I'd done 50 miles on half a tank !!!
Adrian
www.adrianmugridge.co.uk
adrianmugridge said: Can you open both tanks ? My GT3 only opens on the drivers side so it's harder to fill. My last esprit opened both sides. I always opened both and could maybe fill 80% via one tank before using the other one.
The first time I did this ( after having my 86 N/A for about 20 miles ) I filled one tank up as I could not get in the other one. As I drove out of the petrol station the guage showed full. 50 miles later, after the tanks had balanced out, the guage showed half full. I nearly sh*t myself as I thought I'd done 50 miles on half a tank !!!
Adrian
www.adrianmugridge.co.uk
I find with mine, if I fill up on the driver's side it registers immediately quite high. When I drive it settles down but does take a while. Usually after I've parked up then gone back to the car, it normally registers about 2/3 of what it was reading previously.
On the other hand, I filled up for the first time on the passenger side and it was at the same time people were talking about leaking petrol tanks. Well put about £30 in before it clicked. When I drove down the road, the petrol light was still on!!! About 20 mins later it went off. I was convinced that I had a leak in the tank as it was registering empty all the way home. When I came out to it the next day, it turned out that it had levelled out to 2/3 full.
That's why I love Esprits.... they have their own distinct personality.
Cheers,
Dave Walters
You guys talk about fuel as though it were some sort of slow moving sludge with the consistency of pudding. It shouldn't take 3-4 miles or more for the level in both tanks to equalize. Fuel's viscosity is about the same as water. In all my Esprits I can fill up on one side only (usually the driver side out of habit). When the pump automatically shuts off, I wait about 5-10 seconds for the level in both tanks to equalize and add more fuel. I repeat this about 3 times and the tanks are totally topped off.
I never have the level "magically" drop 20 minutes after a fill up. If this is happening to your car, you might have an obstruction in the fuel tank balance pipe that is restricting the flow of fuel from one tank to the other. If this is the case you should have it checked out as any obstruction may get eventually get caught in the fuel pickup in the rhs tank and cause fuel starvation problems.
Cheers,
Karl-Franz :-)
www.espritfactfile.com
I never have the level "magically" drop 20 minutes after a fill up. If this is happening to your car, you might have an obstruction in the fuel tank balance pipe that is restricting the flow of fuel from one tank to the other. If this is the case you should have it checked out as any obstruction may get eventually get caught in the fuel pickup in the rhs tank and cause fuel starvation problems.
Cheers,
Karl-Franz :-)
www.espritfactfile.com
Fuel does have a very similar specific gravity to water, but what actually happens the fuel is maxed out with aeration while getting pumped in. Opening the other fuel cap certainly helps trapped air, hence filling slightly easier. I tried filling mine right up the other day. What a chore, think it took me around 10mins, looked like a complete git standing there. Everytime it starts to back wash up the filler nozzle wait around 20secs then keep dribbling it in. Am amazed at the huge tanks. I cant have been too far off as it was sitting over 3/4 full next day.
I don't have a problem getting more fuel into my tanks as I've never tried. What I was merely demonstrating is that I probably have a very, very, very sloooowwwwww fuel gauge that also has a mind of it's own.
I don't know be process of elimination is whether the fuel gauge in connect to the drivers side tank?? Is this why Iam getting the odd readings??
Cheers,
Dave Walters
I don't know be process of elimination is whether the fuel gauge in connect to the drivers side tank?? Is this why Iam getting the odd readings??
Cheers,
Dave Walters
karlfranz said: You guys talk about fuel as though it were some sort of slow moving sludge with the consistency of pudding. It shouldn't take 3-4 miles or more for the level in both tanks to equalize. Fuel's viscosity is about the same as water. In all my Esprits I can fill up on one side only (usually the driver side out of habit). When the pump automatically shuts off, I wait about 5-10 seconds for the level in both tanks to equalize and add more fuel. I repeat this about 3 times and the tanks are totally topped off.
I never have the level "magically" drop 20 minutes after a fill up. If this is happening to your car, you might have an obstruction in the fuel tank balance pipe that is restricting the flow of fuel from one tank to the other. If this is the case you should have it checked out as any obstruction may get eventually get caught in the fuel pickup in the rhs tank and cause fuel starvation problems.
Cheers,
Karl-Franz :-)
www.espritfactfile.com
Gday all
This is my first question for the year
Trying to go thru previous threads ..of this problem
I seem to have this problem ..
Not having driven the car for a while.
Problem:
My telltale low fuel lite is on constantly
My fuel gauge shows empty and occassionaly shakes abit .
I do not know how much petrol i have in the tanks .
Each time i go for a drive i put £10 in it !!!!!!
Any ideas on a quick fix.
Why URGENT .. in a few days time im finally driving my car from NORFOLK (Lotus home) to SOUTHAMPTON to have it shipped to its new home Queensland Australia.
Seeing they only allow a car to have about a 1/4 tank full of fuel in transit .
Is it a quick fix or do i have to take a spare tank of fuel with me incase i run out on a motorway ..
Many Thanks
A desparate AUSSIE ... FINALLY trying to get his car to its new home
Alex 87S3hc N/A
h
This is my first question for the year
Trying to go thru previous threads ..of this problem
I seem to have this problem ..
Not having driven the car for a while.
Problem:
My telltale low fuel lite is on constantly
My fuel gauge shows empty and occassionaly shakes abit .
I do not know how much petrol i have in the tanks .
Each time i go for a drive i put £10 in it !!!!!!
Any ideas on a quick fix.
Why URGENT .. in a few days time im finally driving my car from NORFOLK (Lotus home) to SOUTHAMPTON to have it shipped to its new home Queensland Australia.
Seeing they only allow a car to have about a 1/4 tank full of fuel in transit .
Is it a quick fix or do i have to take a spare tank of fuel with me incase i run out on a motorway ..
Many Thanks
A desparate AUSSIE ... FINALLY trying to get his car to its new home
Alex 87S3hc N/A
h
Remember the student days driving around in broken down cars. My old BF used to put a wooden stick down there to see the levels. I would not recommend putting wood down the esprit tanks though, but perhaps something else that wont drop particles in there. A quick fix but not the soln youre looking for 
Hi,
Are you also getting sporatic erratic temp gauge readings? If so, it's likely to be the voltage stabilizer. Give the right hand side of the binnacle a good rap with the palm of your hand and see if the gauge improves. If so, your voltage stabilizer has a bad ground or needs replacing (behind the binnacle).
If these do not help, possibly corroded connector leads to the fuel sender. Locared on the left hand tank. Remove the 1/4 glass shelf to reveal it.
Finally, the fuel sender unit itself may be bad and need replacing. Hope this helps. Happy Motoring!... Jim'85TE
Are you also getting sporatic erratic temp gauge readings? If so, it's likely to be the voltage stabilizer. Give the right hand side of the binnacle a good rap with the palm of your hand and see if the gauge improves. If so, your voltage stabilizer has a bad ground or needs replacing (behind the binnacle).
If these do not help, possibly corroded connector leads to the fuel sender. Locared on the left hand tank. Remove the 1/4 glass shelf to reveal it.
Finally, the fuel sender unit itself may be bad and need replacing. Hope this helps. Happy Motoring!... Jim'85TE
Kev@carnoisseur said:I hate the way the orange light keeps flickering, even when there's nearly a half tank full.
When I first got my esprit I thought the fuel gauge was the rev counter it moved so much!! They realy are crap. The senders probley from a 2CV or something.
It always happens when you put your foot down and you just see it flicker out of the corner of your eye.
Never fails to distract me, cos I keep thinking it is the oil warning light.....
PatHeald said:
Kev@carnoisseur said:
When I first got my esprit I thought the fuel gauge was the rev counter it moved so much!! They realy are crap. The senders probley from a 2CV or something.
I hate the way the orange light keeps flickering, even when there's nearly a half tank full.
It always happens when you put your foot down and you just see it flicker out of the corner of your eye.
Never fails to distract me, cos I keep thinking it is the oil warning light.....
Pat,
Interesting enough, this is a design feature of the car. As you are aware, Lotus designed the Esprit with two tanks, one on either side to prevent weight shifting in turns to provide more stable handling, something they learned from the Europa.
Oddly, Lotus engineers noticed a distinct handling difference when the car was run with empty tanks as opposed to full ones. Upon further investigation, they found the rear lacked sufficient weight necessary to make the suspension function properly once the tanks emptied.
Since the fix was going to be a compromise in any respect (the fix had to be neutral once the tanks were full), the engineers decided that the weight of a ¼ tank of fuel was sufficient to mitigate most of the problem. Gasoline weighs anywhere from 5.8-6.5 lbs./gal., so using an average of 6.15 lbs./gal. a ¼ tank would weigh between 22lbs. and 28lbs. depending upon the model (fuel capacity differs greatly between models).
Consequently, they calibrated the fuel sender to activate the tell-tale at ¼ tank so that hopefully the driver would maintain sufficient weight in the rear to preserve the handling. If you notice, the Owner's Manual is pretty definite about filling the tanks once the tell-tale activates.
The sender itself is not the best design as it lives directly immersed in the tank as opposed to being installed inside a splash tube, consequently, the tell-tale will activate sporatically under lateral acceleration between ¼ and ½ tank.
In other words, They all do that Sir... , it's a good thing! Happy Motoring! ... Jim'85TE
>> Edited by lotusguy on Sunday 22 February 16:13
>> Edited by lotusguy on Sunday 22 February 16:16
Gday all
Many thanks for ur replies
Esp you Lotusguy .........
I hit the binnacle ... no result
As time is getting down and im rather busy..
Im taking car down south early Weds morn ,, UK Time.
If i cant get it sorted ..
Seeing that i drove the car ..as a shake down on Sat ...er 45 miles .. that is good for me.
I had no problems driving apart from the..constant tell tail lite on .... and fuel gauge not working.
If i just tank up with fuel ..
I should get there required 248 miles wth no trouble... have the car shipped and sort it out when it gets to its new home ........
Thanks in advance
Alex 87S3HC N/A
Many thanks for ur replies
Esp you Lotusguy .........
I hit the binnacle ... no result
As time is getting down and im rather busy..
Im taking car down south early Weds morn ,, UK Time.
If i cant get it sorted ..
Seeing that i drove the car ..as a shake down on Sat ...er 45 miles .. that is good for me.
I had no problems driving apart from the..constant tell tail lite on .... and fuel gauge not working.
If i just tank up with fuel ..
I should get there required 248 miles wth no trouble... have the car shipped and sort it out when it gets to its new home ........
Thanks in advance
Alex 87S3HC N/A
Gassing Station | Esprit | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff