fuel gauge going crazy now it wont start

[kinkyfreestyler]

Hi everyone
I was driving today when suddenly my fuel gauge dropped to empty and the light came on !
Nothing unusual about this I hear you cry ! just stop and put fuel in , obvious , but I had just stopped and put half a tanks worth of fuel in , so I stopped and jumped out to make sure I hadn't left a trail of petrol behind me ,but I'm glad to say there wasn't one !
I put my hand under the car to see if anything was dripping but there was no signs of that either , turned the key off then restarted the car ,still the same ! then suddenly it read half a tank, so I drove on.
did about 40 miles then on the motorway on the way home I noticed the gauge was saying empty again and the light had come back on , then just as quickly it rose to half a tank then settled at 1/4 tank (which I think was about right ) and stayed like that for the next 50 miles.

has anyone had anything like this happen to them ? could the driving wind and rain have anything to do with it ? need to sort this before I go to holland at the end of the month don't want to be coming home on a loader

thanks for any help or insight

 

[grogee]

A few people have had a problem with fuel pump wiring going to tank, where it runs over the top of the tank. I wonder if this is a similar problem? IE wiring is chafed somewhere under vehicle and is shorting out intermittently.

The other thing to check would be the earth for the fuel sender circuit, I don't know where this is but if it's under the car then it might want cleaning up or a strap replacing.

I'd say it's a minor problem and could wait until after your Dutch trip. Just keep an eye on your mileage - if you know you get ~300 miles from a tank, make sure you fill up after 250 miles.

 

[kinkyfreestyler]

well heres an up date went out today and topped the tank up .drove home 5miles went back to the car and no fuel pump noise and car won't start ,f**KING s**t. any surgeustions before I start draining £40 worth of feul and dropping the tank .

thanks

 

[kinkyfreestyler]

so orderd new fuel pump then spent the day fitting new pump ,but still no preload noise from the pump when i turn the key ? checked the fuel cut off ,thats fine .the engine spins over everything seems to work ,but no fuel pump ! and the fuel gauge is showing full when theres no more than 10 lts in the tank .

anyone had this sort of thing happened