4.2 Fuel Gauge Sticking?

[trutta]

Hi there, bit of a weird one this but my D4D had one of those weird glitches the other night and I was wondering if this is a common occurrence. I used my car for about 90 mins driving and when I arrived home I have a quarter of a tank left. About an hour later I left to go to the shops and there was still a quarter tank showing on the gauge. After I came back out the shops no more than 2 minutes later I put the key in the ignition and the gauge was showing as empty and the warning light was on but there was no diesel leaking underneath the car never mind a quarter of a tank.

I turned the ignition off and on but the gauge was showing as empty and the light refused to go off. I drove 1 mile to the petrol station and put in £10 of diesel and when I put the key in the ignition it was showing as being just under the half way mark. It is pretty clear that the gauge had stuck but I was wondering if this is a common problem or does it signify a problem elsewhere? The car had a full service the previous week that included the timing belt, oil, air and fuel filter and has not done it since.

Thanks for any advice. :)

[Davrav]

Hi there, bit of a weird one this but my D4D had one of those weird glitches the other night and I was wondering if this is a common occurrence. I used my car for about 90 mins driving and when I arrived home I have a quarter of a tank left. About an hour later I left to go to the shops and there was still a quarter tank showing on the gauge. After I came back out the shops no more than 2 minutes later I put the key in the ignition and the gauge was showing as empty and the warning light was on but there was no diesel leaking underneath the car never mind a quarter of a tank.

I turned the ignition off and on but the gauge was showing as empty and the light refused to go off. I drove 1 mile to the petrol station and put in £10 of diesel and when I put the key in the ignition it was showing as being just under the half way mark. It is pretty clear that the gauge had stuck but I was wondering if this is a common problem or does it signify a problem elsewhere? The car had a full service the previous week that included the timing belt, oil, air and fuel filter and has not done it since.

Thanks for any advice. :)

Sounds like it could ba a faulty sender unit in the tank

[bothwell_buyer]

welcome to the world of simple mechanics.

The sender could have a simple connection fault - dirt or loose. Or the wee float thingy may have decided to stick.

Dunno whjat fuel you use but for my cars I stick to Shell vpower. For the oil burning trucks, vans and plant, we buy the cheapest. And what we get is odd readings on the forklifts gauges showing empty when its not and quarter full when its empty. I tell the guys to try to keep the tank topped up every day anyway cos the hassle of bleeding air is a mile too far. Same with the generatolr - a 6 cylinder Fiat diesel 60kva+ lump which also has a gauge which again is a guess.

the transits are fairly predicatble and the Renault and mercedes trucks gauges are another lottery so we keep them topped up.

To get any of the gauges fixed is just not worth the bother. We keep record of mileage altho we haven't yet cracked the number of hours per litre.

If your Rav has the tank in the same place as the 4.1 version, which I think it has, then the top of the tank is ideal for collecting mud; sludge and developing corrosion. Maybe the garage power washed the underneath??

[anchorman]

It is very unusual for the guage to give that kind of fault. More likely trhe sender which is easily tested once you've got to it. I will see what I've got over the weekend.

[trutta]

Thanks guys. :) It hasn't done it since but I will take it into the garage just to be on the safe side :)

[trutta]

I don't know if this is related or not but I was driving the Rav home the other night and all of a sudden a warning light came on and it went in to limp mode. Not ideal when I was on a dual carriageway doing 60. Anyway, I managed to pull over and left the car off for 30s and then turned it on and it was OK and drove home without any problems. The warning light has not came on since. I have not taken it to the garage yet due to being mega busy and tbh a little light on the wallet after a £405 service!

Is there any way that these 2 events are related?

Thanks

[anchorman]

No.

[trutta]

Cheers Anchorman. The funny thing is that it has not done either of the glitches again so fingers crossed. :)