willow990 Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 So recently i think my fuel gauge/trip have been playing up a little bit, just wondering if anyones had similar problems and if its common? I know it the trip changes depending on how you drive but its been okay up until recently. I put £40 in and the trip said i had 300miles then i drove from near preston to wolverhampton which was roughly 120 miles but when i checked the trip it said 130miles and i wasnt being heavy footed either. Then i set off back home and after about 100miles on the motorway i checked the trip again and it said 114miles left which was strange, then as soon as i got off the motorway the fuel light came on saying i had 40miles left. Then yesterday i had £20 of fuel and it was saying 120miles on the trip and i drove a bit and i checked it and then it said 60miles which was fine but then 5mins later it said 0 miles so i went to the nearest petrol station put £10 in as its all i had in my wallet and it still said 0 miles but i came to it this morning and it was at 60miles so i drove to work which is about 5 miles away and then it went down to 30 miles. Sorry its a bit long winded but any suggestions would be helpful. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEUS Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 What's the fuel needle saying when the digital display is doing all this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSet Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I've got a good idea of what's happening. It's all to do with the way the computer looks at your history. For example, if you drive 4 miles to work and back then reset the computer then it'll estimate the amount of miles you have left based on that trip. So if your M.P.G was say 12 and you have a full tank it'll presume that you only have around 204 DTE or so miles left. So your next journey is a 200 miles round trip journey on Motorways at roughly 30 mpg and what you'll see is the DTE gradually increasing as if by magic . The answer is, don't reset the computer frequently or do as I do and never reset it. I'm far more interested in my long term overall MPG rather than on a trip from A to B. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willow990 Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 What's the fuel needle saying when the digital display is doing all this? its just up and down with whatever the trip says Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 By trip counter, do you actually mean the DTE display? I assume you do. If so, I really wouldn't worry about it. Just to prove there's nothing wrong though, just fill your car to full, reset BOTH the DTE and the trip, then see how many miles you get until the fuel light comes on. Then report back. Pete's got it right though, the DTE is just an electronic guess, nothing more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willow990 Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 I've got a good idea of what's happening. It's all to do with the way the computer looks at your history. For example, if you drive 4 miles to work and back then reset the computer then it'll estimate the amount of miles you have left based on that trip. So if your M.P.G was say 12 and you have a full tank it'll presume that you only have around 204 DTE or so miles left. So your next journey is a 200 miles round trip journey on Motorways at roughly 30 mpg and what you'll see is the DTE gradually increasing as if by magic . The answer is, don't reset the computer frequently or do as I do and never reset it. I'm far more interested in my long term overall MPG rather than on a trip from A to B. Pete yeah i get what you mean but its been okay for the past couple of months up until a few days ago and it seems to be all over the place aha. When ive been checking it ive not been resetting it just flicking through unless it starts flashing at me. I might try and fill it up and see what happens then. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 the fuel gauge is also pretty dire - my car used to scream bloody murder at me to put some petrol in, when it still had a good 20 litres in the tank. usually i'd start the car up with 60 miles or apparent range, then within the first 5 miles the range would drop to '----' then miraculously 5 miles later it would find some more petrol and the dte would go back up to where it started. but as ekona says, do a proper calculation - brim the tank, do 100-200 miles or so, then brim the tank again and note how much petrol you used, which will allow you to then work out actual mpg, and thus what range you actually have from an 80 litre tank. It doesn't really help calculations when you fill up a little bit here and there, the only two times you can be 100% sure of how much fuel is in it is when its brimmed to the top (~80 litres) or conked out at the side of the road (0 litres ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_83 Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Doesn’t the display provide a snap shot of the remaining miles in accordance with conditions at the time, so on cold start up ie max choke then for sure fuel range is going to be crap then as the engine warms up and efficient operation is achieved the dte ranges goes back up as its looking at the situation at that very moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stutopia Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 As per Brillo, mine demands a fill up and pops the light on and then only takes 50 litres or so. If it does turn out to be a sender fault, there is a really good guide here - http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/54763-how-to-fix-the-inaccurate-fuel-gauge-pdf/ But obvisouly it's messing around with petrol and the tank so usual disclaimers apply, for your own info, get someone qualified, don't blow yourself up, etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 My fuel gauge used to have a mind of its own. Sometimes it would say only 1/4 left, then later on it would say 1/2 left etc. I just went by my trip computer. I knew id get x number of miles roughly out of a tank and so when it got near that amount id brim it, reset the trip counter and carry on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 My fuel gauge used to have a mind of its own. Sometimes it would say only 1/4 left, then later on it would say 1/2 left etc. I just went by my trip computer. I knew id get x number of miles roughly out of a tank and so when it got near that amount id brim it, reset the trip counter and carry on. +1 this is the way to do it. I knew with my driving I could do 350-400 miles from a tank, so filled it up around there, regardless of what the fuel gauge was saying. that way I was consistently putting in around 70 litres. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraziekatz1 Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Exactly what Brillomaster said! About 400 miles (or 4 days commuting) per tank. If go by the petrol gauge and fill up just below 1/4 I only get £40 worth in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willow990 Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 I think im going to do that then, try and fill the tank and do the calculations and see if its just me worrying or if there is something wrong. If so ill have a look at the guide and see if i can sort it out. Im always just putting £20/30 in at a time which probably doesnt help things so filling up should do it some good i hope Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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