Petrol gauge

Dave, I think it's more likely you have a duff connection somewhere or possibly a short circuit on the stabiliser supply. The indicator flasher needs the resistance of the bulbs to heat up its bimetallic strip, that's why they flash faster when a bulb is blown: it doubles the resistance. If it doesn't flash it's either worn out or there's not enough current going through it.

Dave as ethel said about the flasher unit and also here is something to check as i had this problem.

Make sure you have the correct wattage bulbs in the indicators.

I replaced my front 2 indicator bulbs with low wattage 5W ones. Although good in theory the new bulbs did not generate enough current going through the flasher unit to make it do its flashy flash thing. So I, like you, i had indicators that were just permantly on.

Ah right cheers guys, will check the bulbs when I get chance. Where`s the dodgy connection (if there is one) likely to be?? Only got my mini on friday and I`m not too good with electrics. Will have a read through the haynes manual. Thanks again

well the theroy of putting the 2 wires together and if the gauge gioes right up............this theroy is nit 100% correct


my guage stopped working last night and i tried this theroy just now and yes the gauge went right up, but after puting the wires back on the sender and turned ingintion on, my gauige went back to half a tank as it was before it stopped working.


so what is the problem with my sender then as the connecting wires on the tank wer not loose or dirty??

are senders easy to change? my fuel gauge is showing half its capacity, i.e only 16 litres when it should be showing 33, pain in the bum.

Yea they are

Jammy did mine within like 10-15 mins, probably not even that.

I helped watched, and it all made sense to me so it must be easy

And now my gauge is fine I just have to learn to trust it again, thats the hard part

R x

Just make sure you are *very* low on petrol before you take the old one out!

Just make sure you are *very* low on petrol before you take the old one out!

Yup and dont do something silly like put the petrol can on top of the mini roof and walk away letting it fall



surely no one is silly enough to do that

thank you!!! will try a new sender and see what happens, its very annoying not having an accurate fuel gauge!! thanks for the advice!

ive just had the same problem but i restored my mini i bought it with no floor in it so really i never knew if it worked or not , i just found out it didnt lol however i 1st tested the connections at the back by joining them together the stabelizer must have been okay because the temp gauge always worked , the gauge works fine on the dash , so im guessing now its a new sender lol happy days whats another 17-20 quid when you have jsut throwen £2000 plus at it lol

thanks alot mark

I'm being daft. I've got a new sender, but I can't work out how to take the old one out.
The Haynes manual says 'using crossed screwdrivers turn the locking ring 30 degrees."
I can see how the locking ring works, but how do you turn it? Crossed screwdrivers - huh?

Can someone describe this process to me please?
(My tank is empty - I ran out of fuel - so I want to use this opportunity to change it.)

Thanks!

Edited by daemonchild, 29 November 2008 - 01:04 PM.

I had a similar problem with my fuel guage.

Turned out to be the float - had half filled with petrol and giving false readings. Can't get them here anymore so tried a camera film canister - worked great (same size) however now it too has filled with fuel.

May be due to do another purchase at mini spares!! Not something I do often since I tend to buy in bulk to save on postage costs.

I'm being daft. I've got a new sender, but I can't work out how to take the old one out.
The Haynes manual says 'using crossed screwdrivers turn the locking ring 30 degrees."
I can see how the locking ring works, but how do you turn it? Crossed screwdrivers - huh?

Can someone describe this process to me please?
(My tank is empty - I ran out of fuel - so I want to use this opportunity to change it.)

Thanks!

Okay - on the side of the tank you will see the sender unit. Now the disk with the two terminals on it turns. You will see two/three tabs sticking out. sometimes they have been flattened a bit. It works using a sort of ramp system - using a flat head screwdriver tap it with a hammer and it will turn. The other little tabs will move down the little ramp bits and it become loose then falls away.

Be careful when putting it back in - when i did mine, i just levered it off with a screwdriver and had to spend ages hitting it back square to make it seal again. Also when you fill up next - leave your boot open and look for leaks.

Another tricky part is getting it all out without bending the metal rod... take your time and you will need to twist and turn a bit on some weird angles to get it out.

hey reading this im so confused my fuel guage when full goes wayyyy past the make so give me a bad reading i nearly ran out of fuel the other week because it said i had alf a tank left why could this be? plus my indicators flash but hazords stay on constant why is this and is that an mot fail as its cumming up this month any help would be good

cheers alex

thought i'd have a go at this issue as my fuel gauge always show empty too, i traced the wires from the back of the gauge through the car and into the boot, only to find that i'd forgot i had a speedboat tank with no sender, just a little window you cant see from anywhere in the car.doh

explains why i ran out of fuel on the way home from the minimine run.lol