C5 fuel gauge problem.

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demag
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C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by demag »

We were driving home from our weekly pensioner's special lunch today when there was a warning bong from the dashboard and a low fuel warning. The car has half a tank of diesel and has only done 247 miles. It usually does between 4-500 miles around town.

Is it ok to short the sender wire to earth as we used to on pre ecu cars, or is that a no no now? I want to eliminate sender or gauge.
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by Gibbo2286 »

I wouldn't recommend it Dave, better safe than sorry on this multiplexed stuff.
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by xantia_v6 »

The safest and easiest thing to do first is to fill it up and see how much it takes.
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by wheeler »

Do a BSI reset first, this normally sorts out fuel gauge glitches. The sender is only used to read the fuel level on initial start up anyway, the injection ECU then calculates fuel usage as your driving.
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by demag »

Ah I didn't realise that. Strange beasts aren't they. I'll pop out in a bit and try it.
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

demag wrote: 01 Sep 2017, 09:56 Ah I didn't realise that. Strange beasts aren't they. I'll pop out in a bit and try it.

Nah, they are Citroens, not strange at all by that fact!
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by Peter.N. »

I would also go for a BSI reset. The first one I bought ran out of fuel on the M5 on the way home although it was showing some and that cured itself after I had disconnected the battery - didn't know anything about BSI resets in those days.

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demag
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by demag »

The bsi didn't have any effect so I popped up the road and brimmed the tank. Voila its working! But the amount I put in wouldn't have filled the tank from empty so I appear to have a problem evolving. I put less than 10 gallons in to fill it and the gauge is now right over on full. I'll keep my eye on it. :|
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by ekjdm14 »

Hell Razor5543 wrote: 01 Sep 2017, 10:04
demag wrote: 01 Sep 2017, 09:56 Ah I didn't realise that. Strange beasts aren't they. I'll pop out in a bit and try it.

Nah, they are Citroens, not strange at all by that fact!


Indeed not, Black & White both also only respond immediately to the sender on initial switch-on. Moving the float from one extreme to the other with the ignition on has no immediate effect on the gauge reading & after 45 seconds the needle appeared to have moved a hair, but it may have been my perception.

Fine when all is well & makes for a much steadier reading but if you were to develop a leak you may never realise until you ground to a halt with an empty tank... Stranger still as both are XUD cars with no engine ECU to calculate usage, all I can guess there is that the instrument cluster electronics estimate usage based on speed/revs/time... Yet I distinctly recall AX gauges of the same era were a little too sensitive to the float position and even gentle cornering could provoke 1/4 of a tank's variation :? "Because Citroen"
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Re: C5 fuel gauge problem.

Post by xantia_v6 »

Xantia fuel guages don't connect to the ecu. They just get the signal from the sender but react very very slowly to changes in level.
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