Inaccurate fuel gauge

[Tamoshanter]

If i put £10 worth fuel it shows 1/4 tank which i no is not correct

More annoyingly when the fuel light comes on, i can only do less than 10 miles before car stops (out of fuel). Surely when this comes on you should do at least 15 miles no?

How do i fix this

 

[renault12ts]

On most MB the fuel light coming on means you have 2 gallons (9.1 litres) of fuel left...I have done over 60 miles on the light before giving in and buying fuel.

 

[Tamoshanter]

On most MB the fuel light coming on means you have 2 gallons (9.1 litres) of fuel left...I have done over 60 miles on the light before giving in and buying fuel.

Wow. On mine one occasion light came on and i drove about 3 miles and car died/ran out fuel

 

[andy27168]

W202s seemed to suffer from dodgy fuel sender units (especially early models), its supposed to be caused by a build up of sulphate on the wiper/resistor, normally manifesting itself by very erratic fuel readings. From the searching I did on the issue it seemed to be more common on the prefacelift and was seemed to be caused by the use of super market fuel and using unleaded fuel instead of super plus grade. Indeed mine never played up till I started using super market unleaded in my C230K.
I normally would use injector cleaner, and a couple of tanks of premium fuel which would solve it for a time but it would always reoccur.
You could try my solution as its a bit cheaper, but as yours is slightly different it may not make any difference, in which case the only sure way to solve the issue is to replace the sender units (x2).

 

[Troon]

A temporary fix would be to fill it up and not drive around on a nearly empty tank.

 

[Tamoshanter]

W202s seemed to suffer from dodgy fuel sender units (especially early models), its supposed to be caused by a build up of sulphate on the wiper/resistor, normally manifesting itself by very erratic fuel readings. From the searching I did on the issue it seemed to be more common on the prefacelift and was seemed to be caused by the use of super market fuel and using unleaded fuel instead of super plus grade. Indeed mine never played up till I started using super market unleaded in my C230K.
I normally would use injector cleaner, and a couple of tanks of premium fuel which would solve it for a time but it would always reoccur.
You could try my solution as its a bit cheaper, but as yours is slightly different it may not make any difference, in which case the only sure way to solve the issue is to replace the sender units (x2).

Once read somewhere that the sender units can be cleaned, is this correct

 

[andy27168]

I,m sure I have read that too but for the hassle of getting them out to clean, and then finding something suitable to clean them with and putting them back in only to find its made no difference, has always put me off if I was ever to remove them I would replace with new but that's me, you might feel its worth trying to do first.

 

[Tamoshanter]

I,m sure I have read that too but for the hassle of getting them out to clean, and then finding something suitable to clean them with and putting them back in only to find its made no difference, has always put me off if I was ever to remove them I would replace with new but that's me, you might feel its worth trying to do first.

Taomshanter quickly logs onto ebay to check how much they are new

 

[SilverSaloon]

what fuel is it? petrol or diesel?

 

[Tamoshanter]

what fuel is it? petrol or diesel?

Diesel