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Low Fuel Light???

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 9:26 am
by Timnkoo
Hi guys,
I have had my face lift GR for 6 months now and yet to see the low fuel light come on. I have also just bought a workshop manual in which I found out I actually have a low fuel indicator. My question is- Is it working? My fuel needle is currently completely covering the Empty line on the dial and was wondering when other peoples fuel lights come on? Hopefully won't run out of fuel waiting for my fuel light :?
Thanks

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 10:44 am
by afterburner
Haha I had this problem with my FTO as well - the fuel gauge would be sitting on E but there would be no light. As it turns out, I let it go a bit further and the light eventually came on. It seems that the gauge can go well beyond E and you still have fuel.

Or you could just have a blown bulb or other electrical problem, and will actually run out of fuel :P

Funnily enough, when I fitted my white dials, I must have moved the fuel gauge needle because after that it started working much more 'normally'...

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 2:45 pm
by Imperial
Iv never seen my fuel light on either. I just thought i didnt have one. Do all FTO's have the fuel light???

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 3:38 pm
by ahew
Or you could just have a blown bulb or other electrical problem, and will actually run out of fuel
hahahaha
there's only 1 way to test but you'd better have a can full of fuel as well.

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 5:13 pm
by Timnkoo
Yes the FTO's do have a low fuel indicator light. I have just fuelled up without seeing it come on....hehehe you can imagine the feeling of accelerating and the engine jumps and then stalls- well I didnt want to experience that :wink:
So when I put in my white dials I will check the bulb- Mind you as post above said after playing with the needle the prob was fixed. I certainly would have thought the low fuel indicator would be hooked directly to the ECU which then turns the light on when the fuel is low- I wouldn't have thought that the fuel light is run from the position of the dial.
Anyway will see what happens

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 11:13 pm
by Nacho
I've been told that running your fuel quite low is not that good for your engine. I once had my fuel tank cleaned and it was unbelievable how much water and mud gets in there just from filling up at the servo. That's the last thing you want pumped into your cylinders.

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 11:32 pm
by Jase
It's got one. Mine comes on well under the e. For a long time i thought it wasn't working then i thought i'd run it down and see what happens.

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:22 pm
by mell
Nacho wrote:I've been told that running your fuel quite low is not that good for your engine. I once had my fuel tank cleaned and it was unbelievable how much water and mud gets in there just from filling up at the servo. That's the last thing you want pumped into your cylinders.
really ewww... :?

i wanna get my fuel tank cleaned now...suspet it hasnt been done to my car before..........how much does it cost to get it cleaned?

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 3:27 pm
by Nacho
I don't know how much it costs to get cleaned to be honest. One of my cylinders wasn't firing once and I suspected it was sparkplug as Arnold from Hypertech told me.

I went and saw some random mechanic to get the spark plugs changed and APPARENTLY I had to get the fuel injectors and fuel tank cleaned and then stung me with an $800 bill. It's funny how he changed the spark plugs anyway when it was meant to be the fuel tank.

Anyway you won't need to get it cleaned unless you fill up often when the fuel tankers are refilling the reserves at the servos. When they fill up i've been told that all the crap in the fuel floats to the top and goes straight into your fuel tank.

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:35 pm
by afterburner
Well I just had a problem with my crappy Laser where it would intermittantly splutter and cut out. I replaced the fuel pump, some of the fuel lines, the filter, and had the carby reconditioned (on mechanical advice). But it still did it.

So I lifted the back seat and took the fuel pickup out of the tank. And I found that the end of the pickup was all blocked full of dirt and grit, and there were a couple of large leaves floating around in the tank 8O . Having said that, the tank itself was clean on the bottom ... and this is a car which has done nearly 300,000kms.

Ever since I did that, the car has run fine :roll:

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:28 pm
by SchumieFan
ahew wrote: there's only 1 way to test but you'd better have a can full of fuel as well.
acctually... if u run your needle below E and park it on a hill facing up it should come on, thats the only time ive seen mine come on...

did anyone else read the title n go "oh no.... do a search"?

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 8:57 am
by ahew
acctually... if u run your needle below E and park it on a hill facing up it should come on
hehe... yeah schumie performed that test a few times already :)

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 2:25 pm
by scarecrow
Yeah, mine comes on, but only intermittently and when i'm not on level ground. This only occurs once the needle is touching the "E" of empty, ie. it's gone below the empty line. Even then when I fill up I can only get 50Litres in, so the indicator is showing up with 10L left in the tank. If you even fill up at a bowser to find that it takes ~55L to fill, then your empty light is broken.

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 8:44 pm
by spetz
Yeah mine comes on at odd times too
Only when it's REALLY low does the light actually stay on
I fill up with 47 or so litres so I only had 3 left :)

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:09 pm
by GoldFTO
yeah thats just wierd because i havn't seen my fuel light come on yet either which i was getting worried if it worked!!!

but looks like it's the same in every FTO so i dont mind now just dont let it go under that E..:P

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:35 pm
by SchumieFan
i usually get another 100ks off the tank after E ive always sed theres another 1/4 in the tank after it