Got a fright with my fuel gauge..

[Stulc]

While out today and only having had the car few day's I thought I would see roughly what I was getting to a gal. So today I filled up till second click (took £18) wasnt really bothering with the guage till it dropped to roughly the first white line from full...BUT!!

To my horror I had done 28 mile's and the needle was more/less half way down from full, yea right if this is right Iv'e used £9 for just under 30 mile's...no way!.

I stopped at the pump's again (same price) and thought oh here goe's another £8-9....but no!, second click and it was at £3odd's on the pump.

Why do these guage's move so drasically....gave me a ****** fright!

 

[jberks]

You'll get used to it!

 

[Stulc]

Eh!.....is that how they work..


Btw...the "cool" smilley is supposed to an 8 because it was £18 I put in.


I did a search on "fuel gauges" and it seems that maybe the sender unit or something behind the clocks are ready to go....oh well if it does I might be covered by the 30 day warranty, if not I'll get it fixed by the guy Iv'e been using for a few years.

 

[Seeker_UK]

The float in the tanks get sticky - I used to have a car that wouldn't read correct unless it had been left to stand for 2 hours and the float sunk down.

 

[Stulc]

Iv'e only had the car a few day's, and everything's been more/less fine.....just today after being out I was in the house and after about 2 hours went out.....the heater light's took a few seconds and the fuel gauge didnt work for second also, then as if my magic they came on...hhmmmmm

 

[jberks]

ok -
the floats do stick and the senders are known to get dicky on the W202. I had mine replaced a long while back. However, the sender usualy means that it won't reach a certain point - e.g. mine would get to 3/4 and no further. I had an escort once that just stuck at 1/4 and above. I though it was getting REALLY economical until I got suspicious and put 8.5 gals into the 1/4 full 8 gal tank.
My experience with most cars is that full to 3/4 goes almost as you start the engine and it drops more slowly the further you get down the tank. Clearly this isn't the actual level but the guage. If you look at a 1980's BMW you'll see that 1-> 3/4 is as wide as 1/2 -> 0. I guess it was their way of getting around this. My E240 always lost the 1st quarter within a day whilst the rest of the tank took 1-2 weeks. The W211 seems to be remarkably accurate but time will tell. When I get a new motor, its one of the things I keep an eye on initially until I know how it behaves.

 

[panason1c]

Iv'e only had the car a few day's, and everything's been more/less fine.....just today after being out I was in the house and after about 2 hours went out.....the heater light's took a few seconds and the fuel gauge didnt work for second also, then as if my magic they came on...hhmmmmm

Regarding the "heater lights took a few seconds".......i assume you are refering to a diesel, is your C280 a diesel then?

 

[twomercs]

I had trouble with erratic readings on the fuel guage on my CLK and was quoted megabucks to have the senders replaced. I then read a thread suggesting using premium unleaded rather than supermarket fuel - apparently there is more muck in supermarket fuel that stcks to the sensors and premium has a cleansing effect - believe it or not after two tankfulls of premium it was back to normal, this was over a year ago and it has been fine since. I tend now to fill up with premium every third fill and have had no problems. I cannot say that I notice any performance difference using premium - but it seems to have saved me the best part of £500 for a few extra quid per tankful. It may have been coincidence - but I would certainly recommend trying it.

 

[SJMaxson]

Gauges

My experience with most cars is that full to 3/4 goes almost as you start the engine and it drops more slowly the further you get down the tank.

My experience is the opposite. I once had a Mondeo that you could drive for over 100 miles before the gauge moved off the top. A second Mondeo was similar. Both our present Mercs take a while before moving off full (between 40-60 miles). Also, on the C270CDI, the needle seems to move slowly through the first half of the gauge, and then speed up - with the last quarter being particularly quick to empty.

 

[Stulc]

Regarding the "heater lights took a few seconds".......i assume you are refering to a diesel, is your C280 a diesel then?

No....it's petrol.....and it's still doing it.


As for the fuel gauge thing it's been ok today, but now that I know it's happened I allways looking for and waiting for the worst...doh!

 

[merc911]

The fuel gauge on my car - recently acquired E 2000 2001 K A/t - also frightened me - dropped visibly to when it was alomost at half, then slowed down. Looks like a sticky sender unit. By the way, anyone tell me the capacity of the fule tank?

 

[angus falconer]

My experience is the opposite. I once had a Mondeo that you could drive for over 100 miles before the gauge moved off the top.

Yes I and nearly ran out fuel in two Mondeos (mk 1's) that had no low fuel light.

This was in the mid 90's and I hadn't driven a car without a light for many many years.

I basically fill a car, wait for the light and fill it again. I don't car how dicky the operation of the gague is - I want a warning light!

 

[jberks]

By the way, anyone tell me the capacity of the fule tank?

AN E200k will most likely have a 60l tank. 80l was an option but not common on the 200k

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I'm pretty sure the 210's all have 70 litre tanks, but the 200K might be the exception. Extra capacity tanks of 80 litres as JB says were offered as an option.

 

[turnipsock]

My gauge used to jump around a lot, sometimes dropping to zero.

I started using Ultimate and the problem has cured itself over time (2-3 months).

Somebody posted about the cleaning properties of the better fuels being able to do this, I had thought that this would have been in the burn process only but I'm happy to have been proved wrong.

 

[philharve]

Ran out of fuel + fuel gauge accuracy

Hi All

I ran out of fuel today on a shopping trip to a nearby town. Fortunately I had a 5L Jerry can with me but I couldn't avoid a 2.6-mile trip on foot, in hot weather, to fill the can. Once I put petrol in the tank the Merc' started easily enough.

However, what I don't understand is that I poured another 60L of fuel in the tank shortly afterwards to fill it up. I thought I had a 69L tank but now I'm not so sure. Where is the other 4L hiding? Or have I a 60L tank and the additional 5L sits in the fuel tank filler pipe?

I also now know what happens when I run very low on fuel, the power drops dramatically and all I can do is coast to a stop. I can't creep on to the next filling station like you can with some cars.

I now know that 5L of petrol with raise the fuel gauge needle from '0' to the bottom of yellow 'low fuel' warning LED, giving me a range of about 30-miles before the tank is empty again.

It seems the W202 fuel gauge is non linear: the first 3-quarters equate to a 100-mile per quarter but the last quarter represents just 50 to 60-miles. I've also noticed the needle doesn't start to fall of Full for 60 to 70-miles.

I cannot recall running out of petrol before in almost 40-years of driving but it can be a useful and informative experience.

REGARDS

Phil

 

[BlackC55]

What car is it?

 

[philharve]

Tank capacity?

Hi BlackC55

See my signature, a C230K.

REGARDS

Phil

 

[philharve]

Fuel tank capacity

I have had a further thought ... when the yellow 'low fuel' warning LED comes on, does this indicate that fuel is being withdrawn from the reserve tank even though such a thing doesn't actually exist?

I have also been wondering how much fuel exists between the tank and the engine, in the fuel pipes, etc. Could it be as much as 4L? Seems unlikely but ...

REGARDS

Phil

 

[BlackC55]

Run some fuel system cleaner through. get it from Halfords