How much fuel???

[i-espedair]

Hiya dudes,

Problem, heres a typical senario: I fill my car up, right up. I drive it a few days and the needle says i got half a tank. The next minute, and i mean the very next minute to when it said half a tank, it drops to nearly the red line. So according to the gauge i have lost over 1/4 a tank in seconds. If i ignore this i can drive around for a few more days as if it hadn't droped and i get my other half a tank. The needle either stays fixed then kicks in again when i really am getting low. Or over the few days slows starts working again and creaps back up.

I have learn't to be able to judge it and it still tells me when i really am low but it is disconcerting on long journeys and i would like to get it fixed as it seems fairly simple. Turning the engine off and on makes no difference. Its as f the sender reaches a certain level and gets stuck!

This happened to anyone else? Any ideas what i should look into first, don't really wanna go in cavalier taking the fuel tank apart!!!

Cheers any help greatly appreciated.

Paul  

[iball]

I had this problem once, I filled up to the brim at a petrol station, drove off and noticed that the fuel gauge was only showing I had a quarter of a tank. Switching the engine on and off made no difference it still said I only had quarter of a tank. It was like it until I filled up again then it was fine.

Sorry I can't suggest a cure to your problem mate, but in the mean time why not reset your trip computer (the other option on the odometer) then you'll be able to see how many miles you've done on your tank and if you know roughly how many miles you get to a tank, you won't need to worry about running out of fuel?

[i-espedair]

Yeh, cheers mate. Thats what i'll do until i can get i sorted. Forgot about that 2nd option!

[jte]

Had a similar eratic fuel gauge in another car, turned out to be a dodgy earth.

Other than that i'm afraid i have no clue.

[ukvr6]

i had the same problem on my old bmw and it was one of the fuel sender units due tothere being two in a bmw tank only one was working so only showed half full dunno if a golf has 2 might be worth a phone call to a vw mechanic just to find out

[vwsystems]

probibly faulty sender

[adyh]

I have exactly the same problem . You leave the car overnight and the gauge says about a quarter , get up the next day and it claims to be about half that . then as you are driving along you can see it drop.

It seems only to happen when low on fuel so i would guess that the markings are wrong and that 1/2 a tank isnt actually that .