Low fuel light came on with the needle pointing at just under 20 litres. In a panic I pulled into a forecourt, and was only able to fit 47 litres into a 63 litre tank - 16 remaining.
So what would make the light come on if the needle was pointing accurately? I thought the light was driven by the same sender.
Low fuel Light playing up
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'89 325i Touring | Touring Resto Thread | In-Dash Screen install
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No mention of a low fuel light there!
'89 325i Touring | Touring Resto Thread | In-Dash Screen install
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Jim320i wrote:Have you checked the...

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Like I said, I'm reluctant to blame the senders because the fuel gauge is reading fine. I'm wondering if there's a chance for a short or something within the cluster itself.
'89 325i Touring | Touring Resto Thread | In-Dash Screen install
Jim320i wrote:Have you checked the...

This! Mine went the other way, gauge inop but light working perfectly, as he said the light is a diff circuit, so still suspect the RH sender.willnz wrote:The low fuel light is triggered by the float contacting the bottom of the level sensor which grounds it. It is on a different circuit altogether to the gauge so the brass nut has nothing to do with it.
It must be getting a gound from somewhere to switch on, so check the brown/grey wire is not damaged and grounding.
If you have dual senders, it is possible for the rh sender to be faulty and still for the gauge not to read empty as the other sender in series will keep the gauge from reading zero, so check the rh sender if this is the case.
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I'll have 50p on that, as well.willnz wrote: I still have my money on the sender having a fault.
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Alright; I'll investigate the bloody sender. Seats up again...
'89 325i Touring | Touring Resto Thread | In-Dash Screen install
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Time to revisit this...
The low fuel light seems to be working fine; I dared to run the tank as low as I could, until I could actually hear fuel being slurped through the filter. The light came on when the car was that low, but the fuel guage was still reading 20 litres (63 guage and tank).
So my issue is that the guage needle isn't dropping as far as it should. It certainly swings all the way up when the tank is brimmed, and drops regularly, but seems to halt at the 20litre mark. So I presume the needle's getting stuck on something.
The low fuel light seems to be working fine; I dared to run the tank as low as I could, until I could actually hear fuel being slurped through the filter. The light came on when the car was that low, but the fuel guage was still reading 20 litres (63 guage and tank).
So my issue is that the guage needle isn't dropping as far as it should. It certainly swings all the way up when the tank is brimmed, and drops regularly, but seems to halt at the 20litre mark. So I presume the needle's getting stuck on something.
'89 325i Touring | Touring Resto Thread | In-Dash Screen install
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Check out the resistance of the two level senders. With a full tank they should both read close to zero, and with an empty tank, just under 60 ohms each. They are series connected, so this presents a resistance of around 120 ohms to the gauge at empty.
Substitute a resistor for the senders, connected between the RH side plug and earth. 120 ohm should make the gauge read zero, 60 ohms half, 0 ohms full.
Substitute a resistor for the senders, connected between the RH side plug and earth. 120 ohm should make the gauge read zero, 60 ohms half, 0 ohms full.