Fuel gauge/ Fuel light problems

shaggy_master

shaggy_master

brapp brapp!
This problem has REALLY been doing my head in, and has left me walking 5 miles home tonight at 12PM so it needs sorting now before I get pissed off and scrap the bloody thing.

About a week ago now, I was getting towards the bottom of the tank, waiting for the fuel light to come on as usual, before I filled up again. BUMP, I ran outta fuel without the fuel light ever coming on.
Ever since, the fuel light will NOT come on at all.
Does anyone know, or can anyone find out from the wiring diagram, weather the fuel light is triggered by the fuel level sender itself, or is it triggered by the fuel gauge reaching a certain point?

Now the fuel light isn't the only problem, as the fuel gauge has changed its ways also.. It now only moves off the red line if you put £20 or more in.. And it soon returns back to the redline, allowing you to drive another 120ish miles with it just sitting on the bottom of the gauge.

This is SO annoying cos I basically haven't got a clue how much fuel I've got left at any given time..
So ANY help/suggestions would be much appreciated.
Bear in mind I've already checked every single fuse in the car, checked the fuel light bulb and its fine, and I've also tried different clocks, all to no avail.
Thanks in advance,
Joe
 
shaggy_master said:
This problem has REALLY been doing my head in, and has left me walking 5 miles home tonight at 12PM so it needs sorting now before I get pissed off and scrap the bloody thing.

About a week ago now, I was getting towards the bottom of the tank, waiting for the fuel light to come on as usual, before I filled up again. BUMP, I ran outta fuel without the fuel light ever coming on.
Ever since, the fuel light will NOT come on at all.
Does anyone know, or can anyone find out from the wiring diagram, weather the fuel light is triggered by the fuel level sender itself, or is it triggered by the fuel gauge reaching a certain point?

Now the fuel light isn't the only problem, as the fuel gauge has changed its ways also.. It now only moves off the red line if you put £20 or more in.. And it soon returns back to the redline, allowing you to drive another 120ish miles with it just sitting on the bottom of the gauge.

This is SO annoying cos I basically haven't got a clue how much fuel I've got left at any given time..
So ANY help/suggestions would be much appreciated.
Bear in mind I've already checked every single fuse in the car, checked the fuel light bulb and its fine, and I've also tried different clocks, all to no avail.
Thanks in advance,
Joe
Click to expand...

i reckon the light is triggered by a switch in the tank, cause lets be honest its not a very accurate light, cornering, accelerating and braking all make it flash so that indicates as the fuel level changes with those events that the switch is in the fuel tank.

14202580515567.png


i'd say its number 10 - Fuel Sender Unit.

yours is maybe seized or something?
 
Thanks for replying Ross, this is just what I was after.
I'll have to have a look inside the tank whenever I can get the car home.
If this gives no results, it must be the wiring :(
Joe
 
Stick a Gerry can with a 5er worth of fuel in the boot as well, just to get you out of those situations for now shaggy. good luck getting it fixed.
 
nah itll be the sender fella!

3 bolts and it comes up - obviously the pipes and connector.

but it sounds like it has got clogged or something! might be crap int he tank caught

if i recall correctly - and this is not from almera this is from past experiance on other cars so may vary

its the module that changes the fuel gauge - and when it gets to s set resistance thats when the light comes on.

thus why as ross said cornering etc it flickers as it changes the resistance

thats how you make your nice led ones by using the resistance to get a different light up etc

i dont know wether the almera tank uses a float or not!

because if it does this could be stuck - but that i think gives a negative feeding making i look empty when not

ohhhh its early and im blabbering


any ways id deffo say the sender :P
 
quickdraw said:
nah itll be the sender fella!

3 bolts and it comes up - obviously the pipes and connector.

but it sounds like it has got clogged or something! might be crap int he tank caught

if i recall correctly - and this is not from almera this is from past experiance on other cars so may vary

its the module that changes the fuel gauge - and when it gets to s set resistance thats when the light comes on.

thus why as ross said cornering etc it flickers as it changes the resistance

thats how you make your nice led ones by using the resistance to get a different light up etc

i dont know wether the almera tank uses a float or not!

because if it does this could be stuck - but that i think gives a negative feeding making i look empty when not

ohhhh its early and im blabbering


any ways id deffo say the sender :P
Click to expand...

Missed your reply mate, thanks for the help,
I'll be removing it probably this afternoon and having a butchers with the fucker.. Hope it is blocked up or something like you said.
Cheers
Joe
 
Quicky's right. I mind my dad sitting showing me how these senders work when he did the TVR's.

The sender acts like a variable resistor in a circuit depending on what level the fuel is at then when the resistance gets too high/low it triggers the light to go on. Crap can cause it to get clogged up so that the wee paddle bit doesn't move and they usually just need a clean up.

They shouldn't be that expensive though, so I'd just go with a new one.
 
Actually this is the almera fuel level meter...and that silver little thingy is what sends a signal to the 'fuel empty' light.

p1010287.jpg


It's a fluid resistor or what, when it's sunk it has big resistance so the light doesn't go on, when you let it dry for a couple of secs, the resistance is decreasing and the light bulb is slowly glowing up.

So either it's fooked or it never gets dry and that's why the light doesn't go on.
 
Okay so thats complicated matters a fair bit lol..
Still gotta get it out and have a play with it I guess.
May just replace the whole unit.
Joe
 
Right just to update this, I had the whole unit out the tank yesterday for a play around, and even with the fuel light sender removed and cleaned out, the fuel light did not illuminate.
I tried bridging the two wires that go into the fuel light sender out of curiosity, and suprise suprise, the fuel light illuminated straight away - big :D
So I'll be replacing the sender asap.
Joe
 
Yeah, big relief haha.
I thought it was going to be one of those nightmare mysterious wiring problems where you change everything, and it still dosen't work haha :D
Unbolting engines and replacing is one thing, but Diagnosing electrical problems, well thats another haha!
Joe
 
Glad you got it sorted, It's also nice to see someone posting up there solutions to the problems too, as so often you search for stuff, and you find the same problem but no definite answers. Thanks
 
aye!

knew it would be that - just never had an almera one out to know if it was a float based system or not!

said its an easy replacement :)

glad it was easy fella
 
hi mate av got the same problem on my Si where is the fuel sender locatd
and wt excatly did u do if you have piks tht would be great thnx
 
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