14 replies to this topic

[BLKcooper]

I have a 1999 1.3i mini cooper MPI. I've always had problems with filling it up with petrol as stupid as it sounds :/

Its gotten worse after the engine rebuild.

(Could this be down to the car sitting stationary for 6 months?)

Its a compleatly standard 1.3MPI engine apart from the K and N air filter and stainless steel exhaust.
As far as i know and according to the owners handbook it has a 7.5 gallon fuel tank on it.
However after filling it up today and the past couple of times i feel somethings wrong.

The fuel gauge reads having a quater of a tank left but when i fill it up i can only get 13.4 Litres in it before it goes everywhere.

Im pretty sure 13 litres isnt like... 3 quaters of the tank or... 6 gallons ish..

The most i have ever put in it in the 3 and a half years i have owned her is about £19 when the fuel was at its most expensive.

My neighbour has had the same problem with her older j reg mini cooper.

Anybody got any ideas?

Many thanks

Lee

[ZED]

is your problem that you cant get enough fuel in or that is doesn't seem to last very long?
you can see when the tank is full, I usually only put about £14.00 at the most because any more and it will just come out when you go round a right hand corner.

Edited by ZED, 16 April 2009 - 06:51 PM.

[miniboy1971]

The Mini gauges are not particularly accurate, not helped by the rather primitive sender unit/float assembly and the awkward shape of the tank. What you're experiencing is not uncommon.

I had the same issue on my old Spi and current Mpi (same tank size). My solution, and I'm sure they'll be others, was to run the tank as low as I dare (carrying some spare fuel just in case) and then syphoned out what was left into proper containers.

I then removed the sender unit from the side of the tank. I then put a slight bend in the wire that holds the float, so that it could travel further down into the bottom of the tank as the fuel is used.

This gave me another 5-10 litres of 'measurable' fuel in the tank....Not perfect, but worked for me.

7.5 Gallons is about 33 litres and when mine is getting close to empty, I can now put in 20-25 litres, but at least I know theres a good gallon or two in 'reserve' if I need it...

(Obvious precautions needed when messing about with fuel and vapours, especially in proximity of the battery and in the boot area....)

Edited by miniboy1971, 16 April 2009 - 07:24 PM.

[BLKcooper]

The problem being is, I think that the gauge is giving me a false reading. when it says theres a quater left in the tank i go to fill up and can only get 13 litres in.

I would think if its claimed as a 7.5 gallon tank it would take more to fill up than 13 litres or so.

It seems as if when the gauge reads empty its half full still? As it doesnt take alot to fill it up

Is this possible?

Edited by BLKcooper, 16 April 2009 - 07:04 PM.

[nicksuth]

As Miniboy1971 says, the tanks and sender units ina Mini are crap!!!

My MPi gauge shows empty and all I can get in is 20 litres !!!!

When I first got it the gauge showed 1/2 full so I went to fill it up and got about £6 in it, thought the tank had vacuumed and collapsed or something (had that on an old diesel astra once), then remembered it was a Mini!!!

[BLKcooper]

OK, fair enough.

Do we think its worth buying a new sender unit for the tank?

Or is it more down to the general shape of the tank? And its always gonna be an issue?

No point in getting a new sender unit if it will happen again ect.

I know its not a major problem, Many of the people in my local mini club will tell you i have a habit of being the only one who always needs fuel.

Just annoying having to spend the majority of my life at petrol stations

[sir Jake the brit]

have you seen the shape of your tank!! it's hardly square! so the chances are, if you note it, you will get alot more miles out of one of the 1/4 tank marks to the others ie the 1st 1/4 (full down to 3/4) might do 65 miles but the next 1/4 seems to go in 30

this has happened on every car and van i have driven, i think your getting giddy about nothing, and people are over confusing what could be wrong.
take my newest car for instance, megane 225cup, in the book says they have a 12 or 13 gallon tank
yet i only ever take 10 gallon to fill it up from what is on the computer, completely empty to clicking-ly full at the pumps (this also includes my trip computer saying i've only used 10g of fuel!)

so i think maybe onces your needle is in the last 1/4 you'd get a few more miles + it would (should you need it to!) have plenty in when the needle is touching your pedals!! lol!

if your car is running fine & your needle is still moving & has been acting the same for the 3 years you have had it, what are you wanting to spend money sorting a problem that isnt there out!! lol

[Dan6061]

This happened to me! I now have a new sender unit in, and it's better, but still not very accurate.
It's just got to empty earlier, and I've driven around 12miles since then, and it's been fine. Before, it used to lose half a tank and show up as empty!

[minipickup]

My MPI has started doing the same for some reason. It goes to full correctly, but when it gets to around 1/2 a tank it tends to drop right off to nothing! Not sure how to cure it, I expect to get 200 or so miles to a tank. Would be good to get a cure rather than buying a new sender.

[BLUE ITALIAN JOB]

have you tried draining the tank when your gauge tells you its empty ?
the nippon gauges can be adjusted - the needle part in the housing is mounted on a pivot and can be moved up/down as req'd ,
if your reading is steady untill it goes down lowish then quickly to empty it may be the tank sender - will need to empty tank and remove the sender , test with ohms meter and it should be a slow change in the reading on the meter when the arm of the sender is moved from low to high and back .
have you tried shorting the two leads the go to the sender unit - join the two leads together - turn on the ignition and the fuel guage should read fullmax .

[taffy1967]

I've heard that adjusting the float/sender in the tank can help get a better gauge reading?

[miniboy1971]

Sure does.....see me earlier post above.....

[Jet Williams]

Mine does this. When the tank is full it only ever registers just under three quarters full, so ready 'empty' again quite quickly. Based on a tank capacity of 35 litres, I've been gradually running it down a little bit further before each fill-up, and I've found it still has fuel when the gauge is well below red, roughly another quarter again, which tallies with how much fuel I'm putting in.

[spiguy]

Mine does this. When the tank is full it only ever registers just under three quarters full, so ready 'empty' again quite quickly. Based on a tank capacity of 35 litres, I've been gradually running it down a little bit further before each fill-up, and I've found it still has fuel when the gauge is well below red, roughly another quarter again, which tallies with how much fuel I'm putting in.

my '95 SPi has been like this since I got it, had it 10 years. I have heard that it's intentional on the injection cars, to ensure that the pump remains immersed in fuel, as this is neccessary in order to keep it cool. The shape of the pipework in the tank leading to the pump means that it sits semi-vertically in the tank, so it would probably required the tank to be about 1/3 full to keep it immersed. Running an injection mini dry is very bad for the pump - I have experienced this as I did it twice - first time the fuse for the pump blew, and the second time it happened it burned the pump out.

I would suggest that you live with more regular trips to the petrol station rather than try to work out how far you can go until you run out, as injection pumps are veeerrryy expensive unless you can find one second hand, and second hand ones are not easy to come by.

[minipickup]

One of the things with my guage is that when it gets to 1/2 way it gets a bit erratic, so it will sometimes drop right off to nothing, then it will go back up he just below 1/2, then back to nothing etc. I cannot remember it always being like this! I may take the sender out and have a play about with it. As I only use the car at weekends I can never remember to make a note of the mileage, so makes it a bit of a lottery as to when to refill!