Thread: D2 fuel gauge empty after filling

All I can think of is check the wires to the gauge e.g. one might have fallen off or bad earth at the tank?

Td5 I assume ?
If so, fuel guage sender unit problems are common.

Originally, the whole pump/sender needed to be bought but the sender is now available separately.

Did she turn the vehicle completely off and not just to acessories? Sometime mine stays where it was last if not completely turned off. A quick turn of the key and back on and it resets.

Angus

Danny,
I'm not sure if the Disco's use the same float, but,

My P38 had a fuel gauge that would never show more than 1/2 to 3/4 full, even with fuel filled to the neck.

I replaced the entire pump (E-Bay) and the gauge worked for a little while.

After 3 months it stopped.

I replaced the gauge -- No change.

Sitting the pump on rag (Tank Out) and manually raise the float arm showed tank full.

This weekend I took the tank out again. The float when imersed in fuel was no longer floating, It had almost neutral buoyancy.

I have now fitted a float from an EB Falcon. Fuel guage now works perfectly.

The old RR float seems to be a sponge type material which is "waterlogged" with petrol.

The point I feel is maybe fuels containing Ethanol may be eating into the RR float and making them lose buoancy? Mine when crushed with pliers just crumbled into black sooty like crumbs.

Falcon one is hollow moulded plastic and slides on the float wire arm perfectly.

Hope this helps someone

Jeff
P38 with working fuel gauge

Thanks guys for your input.

Yes Scott it is a TD5,

It seems it was running low eg light on and as wife was on her way to the servo it dropped to below empty.

Thanks Angus, I thought of this and now the car has been turned off several times, I even tried locking and unlocking it 3 times in a row in a hope it would rest something.

I might get around to removing the cover and sender to have a look. but for the time being we are running around resting the odo until all is good. Doing this should confirm the float, it seems to be stuck in the down position or a wire even better.

Car went good on the weekend though so all was not lost

Danny

Hi Danny,

Don't know if the fuel pump is similar style to the one in my Disco1 V8 but all the in tank pumps I have seen look and work in a very similar way.

On the pump end of the float arm is a part which essentially is a variable resistor. The arm wipes a conductive bit over a resistance strip. The bit attached to the arm is electrically connected to the body of the pump with a strap that looks like a miniature earth strap.
When I had my pump out I poked the strap as it looked frayed (don't do that ) which instantly broke it. I replaced the wire with a thin multistrand wire from a headphone cable. Still works over 12 months later.

I bet this or a non floating float will be your problem.

Not sure on the gauge in the Td5 but the Disco1 gauge is empty with high resistance and full with low resistance/short.

Leave it to the weekend and we can pull it out and check it out.
Until then just pretend you have a V8 and fill up every few hundred kms

Didn't Jessie's V8 D2 have a broken fuel gauge?
What was wrong with that?

Thanks for replys,

Doing the diffs this weekend Justin I aim to get D1 going again, but checked the unit tonight and found that the float works and their is no broken wires so it looks like I need a new sender as it is mounted on a PCB (bugger)

Would have the number Scott? Also are you in parts? if so what is the price? I really don't think that I will be able to get one non-gen so....

This will be my first D2 elec fault.

Thats one!


Cheers for all input

Danny