Fuel guage problem

[AndrewSchofield]

Hi guys,

I think the fuel guage is failing on our '54 plate Peugeot 307 SW. We recently went away for the weekend and fuelled up before we left, it appeared to use a lot of fuel on the journey up, but then the next day when we used the car again the fuel guage was showing a more reasonable fuel usage - at the time we just put this down to parking on a hill overnight. Then yesterday my wife parked locally on a hill and when she returned to the car, it wouldn't start - we got the car towed off the hill and once on the flat it started no problem - she drove staright to the petrol station and it took over £70 to fill up, so was clearly almost empty - yet the fuel guage was showing 1/4 tank.

How easy is it likely to be to find out what's causing the fault - is it a fairly competant DIYer job, or should we be taking it to a garage??

 

[Burnerman]

The fuel sender unit is located in the top of the tank, accessed through a plate below the rear seating area.
The theory would be to lift out the sender unit (have the fuel level low for this) after disconnecting the fuel flow and return pipes and raise the float by hand.
However.....your sender unit may incorporate a fuel pump (it will do if hdi diesel) and you dont really want to experiment with that - it really mustn't be run dry!
The old way used to be to earth both wires to the sender, and watch the gauge rise to maximum, but I cant comment in your case. Also if your car has a fuel contents computer it could get upset, too.
Wait a bit and see if you get any other replies!
John

 

[AndrewSchofield]

Hi John,

Sounds like it might be a complicated one! I've read elsewhere that its common on Peugeots for the contacts on the sender to become corroded and lead to fuel level acuracy problems, so I might check them and clean them up and see if that helps. If it doesn't, it sounds like it might be a case of keeping an eye on the mileage since last fill up and filling up again well before it gets low, or taking it back to Peugeot (after remortgaging the house...)