Petrol Gauge problem

[dublincooper]

Can anyone assist with a fuel problem. I have a 93 spi cooper and the fuel gauge shows empty. When i go to fuel up i am only able to put around 13 to 15 euro in then its full. The gauge then reads as a full tank but will drop to nothing after around 20 miles.

Can the float sender be repaired or do i just have to replace it. it is as if the tank float stops working after the fule drops a little.

[Billy]

Mini petrol gauges are notoriously unreliable. Even when working as set up by the factory, they would show empty after 200 miles even though I have always found you should be able to easily get 300 miles out of a tank. Dropping to empty after 20 miles could be a faulty sender at the tank or the float inside the tank. They are not hard to replace.

Billy

[BlackSe7en]

Have a similar problem on a 2000 MPI, and have heard of others as well. Learn to fill up every 200 miles or as someone else mentioned somewhere on this forum an additional resistor is required in-line on the feed. Rover weren't able to fix the problem on one of the Minis so we have a little book with details of every fillup we have had. We all though James G. was funny when we saw him doing it , now we all know why he did.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

300 miles on a tank is good going Billy, I'd be opting more to the 200 miles between fill ups.
Spare can with a gallon of petrol in the boot has come to my assistance on more than a few occasions.

I have been meaning to do some work on the rear lights which has meant that I have been running the fuel fairly low these days as I will have to remove the tank to get to the nuts, after 3 weeks the job is still not done and I'm still filling up with a few euros worth of petrol each time, €4 gets me to work and back about twice :-)

[Billy]

Remember the trip to Switzerland in '98. I was the one in the newest Mini, afraid to pass a petrol pump because the needle was dropping so quickly.

300 miles from a 9-gallon tank is 33.3 mpg. It was a '98 Mpi so it should have been that efficient if not better.

Billy

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Erm, is it not 7.5 gallon tanks that are fitted to the Mini.

[Billy]

On early cars yes. But on later cars (don't know exactly when), Rover definitely increased the volume. On the early cars, the side of the tank was almost flush with the opening of the boot door. On later cars, it sticks out a few inches to the right.

Billy

[The Marcos Graveyard]

As far as I know, I could be wrong,but the early cars had 5.5gal tanks, vans and estates 6gal and later cars had 7.5gal.

[kerryminigringo]

when i had to fit new light 2 weeks ago undid tank strap and just slide tank over and while i was getting new light on the bench i heard a dripping sound only to return to see a bootful of petrol i don,t think it would have driven out of the garage as fast as it was pushed moral of the story next time i,ll drain the tank cos it will save me some petrol and a pair of jocks

[woody]

Spilled petrol cost more than new light!

old tanks 5.5gal. later 7.5gal like TMG said.

Did you really have one of thoes new minis with the 13" wheels Billy, didn't think you were the sort! Anything more than 10" is a waste.

[Billy]

Ro, who had the last laugh when we got off the ferry on France? Poor A nearly wet himself when he saw the size of them!

[Billy]

I stand corrected on the tank size. So that means if I was getting 300 miles from a 7.5 gallon tank, I was averaging 40mpg!

Sounds like the perfect cue for an Economy Run!

Billy

[The Marcos Graveyard]

I'm still waiting on a commitee decision as to wheather or not I can organise one. Insurance issues.

[minis24se7en]

How does an economy run differ from other events under the insurance?

[woody]

Since the club is run on a volinteers the marshel filling the tank wouldn't be deemed to be working and so wouldn't come under the smoking ban in work places!

[The Marcos Graveyard]

I wanted to have clarification on who exactly would be covered under the club insurance policy, as I would like to think that we could invite other Mini clubs to the event, at the AGM it was unclear as to how the club insurance would function in such an instance. From what I was made aware of, the club can hold a number of large events each year, National Mini Day and the MTM500 for instance. There was one extra spot available and it's usage would have to be decided upon by the NC, but could only be done so after clarification of the insurance question.

Problems also arose over the participation of non-members/lapsed members in the event, as they would be "sponging" off the paid up members, it was proposed that a 1 day membership be set up at a cost of around €10 and if you attended 4 events throughout the year you became a full member, again this was to be looked into by the NC.

[Billy]

TMG, this deserves its own thread.

For my own experience in the vintage world, every time a club organises a run there's an entry form with insurance disclaimer. Typically the cost per run is 15-20 Euros which usually covers tea/coffee at the start and somewhere along the way. There's usually starters prizes as well but these are usually sponsored. If you strip away the frills, it sounds like a tenner should cover the insurance for a day's run. The Irish Vintage Society (IVS) offers these schemes and it could be worth looking into. It would cover members and non-members.

Sounds like something the Committee should be addressing but you'll have to join the queue after MTM500.

Billy

[woody]

Billy are you doing the tea/coffee at the start of MTM, I'll have a full Irish while your at it.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Now that's a dirty dig :-D

[Billy]

MTM500 is supposed to be back to basics so something tells me Statoil or Esso could be doing a good trade in breakfast rolls that morning.

Billy