Puma fuel warning light

[DieselDan]

Just wondering if anyone can shed any light/share experience of how accurate the fuel gauge and low fuel warning light are on the current Puma Defenders?

My 110 is still almost brand new and only on the 4th tank of diesel!
For the first 2 tanks, the warning light came on when the gauge was about half way between 1/4 and empty and I manged to fill up within about 10km. Both times the tank took about 66 litres to fill, so there was 9 litres left in the tank and both times I'd done about 620-630km.
This is exactly what the handbook says - 9 litres left when the light comes on.

Yesterday the light came on again about halfway between 1/4 and empty, but I'd only just ticked over 600km and was nearly 50km from the nearest servo (bad planning I know....). No worries, I should be able to get roughly 90km on the last 9 litres before things starting grinding to a halt.
However within 20km, the gauge dropped rapidly and sat on empty, where it stayed for the last 20odd km and started coughing and misfiring just as the servo came in to view...! Bloody hell was I relieved to see that servo!
Unfortunately I've no idea how empty the tank was since I only put $20 worth of diesel in just to get me home.

So... was my gauge telling me porkies when the low light first came on and then decided to correct itself "oh terribly sorry about that, but there's much less diesel in here than I first told you...."??

Or is it just keeping me on my toes and being dead on accurate for 2 tanks out of 3 and then having a laugh on the 3rd??

Either way, I think I'll be refilling before the warning light comes on in future :D

[JamesB71]

When the fuel gets very low the ems puts it into fuel saving mode and it feels like a regular miss in the firing. Dont ask me how I know..... I didnt quite make it.

My experience is that it has almost exactly 9 litres left when the light comes on.

[Gerokent]

Most (I should say some) common rail diesels these days shut the engine down before completly running out of fuel to save the pump and injectors from burning out; so don't rely on all the 9 litres left to be usable.

[debruiser]

When the fuel gets very low the ems puts it into fuel saving mode and it feels like a regular miss in the firing. Dont ask me how I know..... I didnt quite make it.

My experience is that it has almost exactly 9 litres left when the light comes on.

very interesting, so how long did it go after it started doing that?

[FeatherWeightDriver]

Most (I should say some) common rail diesels these days shut the engine down before completly running out of fuel to save the pump and injectors from burning out; so don't rely on all the 9 litres left to be usable.

From memory (sorry don't have my manual handy) the warning light means 9 litres usable left, and it shuts down leaving 7 or so litres in the tank.

Haven't managed to see my warning light yet; but as we know that's only a matter of time... :angel:

[debruiser]

From memory (sorry don't have my manual handy) the warning light means 9 litres usable left, and it shuts down leaving 7 or so litres in the tank.

Haven't managed to see my warning light yet; but as we know that's only a matter of time... :angel:

I could swear that I put 55L into the 60L tank the day my car started 'missing' probably 50kms after the fuel light came on (was towing at least 2.5T as well)

[austastar]

Hi,
Only happened to me once. (Puma 130 cab/chassis)
"Ding", and the light came on.
I had done over 500km.
The manual states there is 50km traavel still available.
If the vehicle is switched off, the ding is heard again just before starting.

Cheers

[PAT303]

I ran mine out of fuel twice and did 66k's the first time,70k's the second time once the light came on before it started missing. Pat

[DieselDan]

When the fuel gets very low the ems puts it into fuel saving mode and it feels like a regular miss in the firing. Dont ask me how I know..... I didnt quite make it.

My experience is that it has almost exactly 9 litres left when the light comes on.

Yeah I did a search on here and read that the engine management creates the misfiring when fuel is low.
I guess that's what mine was doing.

So was it easy to get started again when it ran out??!

Sent using AULRO mobile app

[FeatherWeightDriver]

From memory (sorry don't have my manual handy) the warning light means 9 litres usable left, and it shuts down leaving 7 or so litres in the tank.

Haven't managed to see my warning light yet; but as we know that's only a matter of time... :angel:

Lol - scored a low fuel warning light last night, so I thought I should re-read the manual section on fuel... :twisted:

Apparently the manual reckons:


The engine will cut out with 4L left in the tank
Fuel warning light goes on with 9L fuel remaining (although it isn't clear if this is usable L or total L)
Once the engine starts misfiring, it is in reduced power mode, and you have 1.6km till it cuts out
Once it cuts out, there is a special process to get it to fire up again:

Press and hold foot brake, crank for 5 seconds
Continue pressing and holding foot brake, crank again for 5 seconds and it should start


Last night when my warning light went on, the UltraGauage stated I had 11.5L in the tank.

Based on this I suspect the fuel warning light means 9 usable litres left in the tank or 81ish km of highway driving, but SWMBO was not keen for me to test this theory so I can not confirm or deny just yet. :angel:

[Chops]

530 was my usual mileage when the light came on. Seems to be heading back that way after all the problems I've had.
I've never tried to run it out to see just how far it goes. Until I've put in the second water filter, I'm not risking picking up **** in the tank when it's so low, but when that done, I'll have a bash at it.

[DieselDan]

Cheers Marcus, good point about picking up crap at the bottom of the tank.
Not what you want after your last episode with dodgy fuel :o

Interesting you say you got 530km before the light came on - the tank is the same size in the 110DC as it is in the stn wagon isn't it?

So far my mileage till the light came on has been:
622km
631km
600km
582km
553km

Only a few tanks and only about 3000km in total, but I can't say I'm liking the downward trend!
So far all the driving has been the same journey to/from work although the last tank did include a long blast up the hill on the M8 just to see if it would hold the posted speed limit up the hill (something my disco fails to do!!):D

[JamesB71]

I did 48kms with the fuel light on yesterday and it hadnt yet gone into fuel save mode. That one time it did run dry I got an awful lot more than 1.6 kms in fuel save mode.

Ive gots to get a long range tank....

[Dorian]

Dan
My numbers were about the same as yours are but as the car wears in the mileage gets better.
I've only run it to the warning light 3 or 4 times now and 30km or so about the 600Km mark is the norm for me. I've done 50Km after the light a few times but never got into the fuel savings mode.
If the fuel usage keeps going up then check the tyre pressures. I run 46 in the front and 52 in the back (Std continentals) and get 10 to 10.5 l/100 per hundred. I find lower pressures greatly reduce the mileage. I also find that over 100km/hr drains the wallet as well.
Cheers Glen

[Chops]

G'Day Glen,

I understand the tyre/economy side of things, but damn you must be feeling every minor bump in the road :eek:
I run my tyres at 38F and 38R (Continentals) for normal driving when I'm loaded. Sometimes I may go up a couple of pound more in the rear if I think I'm carrying a bit more than normal, ie; when touring.
My tyres seem to be wearing well, I've now done almost 90K all up, but probably about 80K on these tyre's. The other are my muddies off the old Disco.

Having a good run at present with mine as far as economy goes. 585 and the light still hadn't come on yesterday when I filled up. :D

[Lagerfan]

Last night when my warning light went on, the UltraGauage stated I had 11.5L in the tank.

Our light comes on when UltraGauge hits 15% full which is bang on 9L for a D90.

Speaking of which had shocker yesterday when the light came on after only 415km, that's about 12.3l/100km, most of which was easy highway (100kph). It has been creeping up recently so I got underneath and spotted the dreaded turbo rub marks, could this be a symptom? Not worn enough to blow out but maybe enough to screw with the mix?

Better get it booked in.

[DieselDan]

Good points about the tyre pressures, I'll check those again. I've got the Wrangler muddies on mine, so probably not quite as efficient as the contis.

Yeah I'm expecting the economy to improve with mileage, it's just the changes in distance per tank and the relatively low km per tank are catching me out a few times, especially after driving a tdi disco!

I might look into an ultragauge. I've got a Bluetooth OBD transmitter and the torque app on a tablet, but find its predictions of tank capacity and distance to empty about as accurate as a temp gauge on a tdi.....:D

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[RoboDouche]

Yeah mine seems to be pretty accurate but I've been to paranoid about running it out to let it get to low.

Get rid of the CAT and center muffler and you'll get way over 700 per tank. Blank the EGR and it's even better.

Got to admit after having a long range tank on my TD5 the Puma was damn annoying with just over 600k's per tank but over 700 is way better

[LoveB]

I've gotten up to 680km with the light just ocming on.

but usually its about 640 or so.

Ive been on never empty mode once. where it regularly misses. safe to say some poo was let out.

I'm pretty certain i drove more than 1.6km. but I made it to the petrol station.

Thats when there wasnt any diesel in canberra lol