My Skodia Fabia 2012 Monte Carlo only started dling this today.  It was reading only 5 miles left today and I put in £10 today to check qnd it stayed at 5 for a long time.  It's now at 15 but took ages to get there.  Any idea what's wrong or have I done something?

 

Thanks

Anybody?!

Why are you out driving about on fumes assuming the fuel gauge actually does work?

 

£10 was likely under 6 litres of fuel be that petrol or diesel as you do not say.  No wonder there was not much movement. 

Once you put in maybe 10 litres or more there might be a bit of movement.

 

Or try more fuel in if you have some money before spending money trying to fix something maybe not broken.

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/464142-fuel-gauge-working-but-very-slowly

 

 

The car is just estimating range left on how you were driving a short while before. 

 

PS

I have only ever really seen 50 mile range left after driving carefully to get to someplace to put fuel in. 

Edited 30 June, 20223 yr by roottoot

@JohnnyZenith do not put all your faith in to computer figures and readings, especially from the likes of VW, think of these things as "gauges" rather than "accurates".  Get used to where the figures or gauge needles usual show in the different circumstances for what is usual for your car.

 

ETA: FREEDOMLITE seems to give unlimited editing (as well as other benefits).

 

Second edit as I forgot the full stop on the end of above ETA.

Edited 1 July, 20223 yr by nta16

There has always been movement after even £10 of fuel put in  even recently.  I believe there is something wrong.

Its the virtual reserve that is created by the program that converts the sender reading to the fuel guage and maxidot display.

 

A full tank shows as a full tank and the expected range is as it should be assuming your journey or driver profile remains constant.

 

It is still true at half a tank, from 3/8 of a tank onwards it gradually reduces the indicated tank level and miles remaining to create the "virtual reserve" of 5-7 litres when the fuel guage and remaining miles show zero.

 

You cannot rely on either display when you are maintain a very low tank level and top up with small amounts.

 

I tested my MK2 Octavias ultimate range and drove another 70 or so miles before running out, I put in 5l from a jerrycan, the sender is really accurate as it registered on the fuel guage and the remaining miles went up to 20 I drove less than a mile to the nearest filling station during which time the remaining miles dropped to 15, then 10, then 5 then zero.

There is probably a bit of stiction on the float lever and also the hysteresis of the potentiometer and the damping of the fuel guage but as I said it is pointless relying on either the guage or miles remaining indicator beneath 3/8 of a tank of fuel.

If you have been only putting in very small amounts of fuel and keeping the tank very low perhaps and/or the car sits for long periods, something has got stuck.  You could try putting in a noticeably larger quantity of fuel and/or perhaps (where safe to do so) giving the car and fuel in the tank a lot of movement but you'll possibly find just by putting noticeably more fuel in and driving normally that at some point you turn the ignition on and the fuel gauge needle moves higher (or even pings) and and the computer figures go back to how they used to be before.

 

The fuel range figures should not be relied on and only used instead of you doing simple maths to get an estimate, both could be accurate or well out depending on changing circumstances.

 

 

Is the outside temperature indication working?

Mine was when the picture was taken and there was 10 litres of petrol in container in the boot. 

@JohnnyZenith  £10 is not buying you as much fuel as it was a month ago. 

I knew I should've tagged my question with @JohnnyZenith. 

@JohnnyZenith

Might tell us if he has a TSI / MPI or a TDI and what sort of average MPG the car gets. 

Don't trust the gauge if it's the non maxidot one, useless.

When I drove over to England a few weeks ago I got from my house to where I was staying and then some before the gauge came off the top bar, 270 miles. I was driving careful, but not that much.  And just this week it took a notion of dropping like a stone with barely any driving. Might just be My car ofcourse but it is pretty useless as an indication of how much fuel you have left.

Fuel guages since time began have always been pretty useless, that said after doing some checking in VCDS the fuel capacity calculated by the ECU from the resistance of the sender unit, two sender units in the case of my vehicle is remarkably accurate over the entire range which is some achievement when you consider the geometry involved, clearly the algorithm compensates for the non linear swing.

 

If only the information sent to be displayed on the fuel guage and the Maxidot were as true and not fiddled with to create the virtual reserve capacity.

 

Given that the primary concern for most of us is not how full the tank is but how far from empty I much preferred the very old undamped fuel guages as long as I had tweaked the float lever to touch the bottom of the tank, the rest of the guage travel could be miles out but I knew that when it read zero and no longer flickered when I threw the car around corners then it was taking its very last sip of fuel!

Some old fuel gauge systems without computer program interference help could be accurate and modern car swing needle gauges can be accurate, perhaps over certain parts of the range if not all sometimes, so you need to know your car and it's fuel gauge accuracy range.  The lit bars fuel gauges and computer program miles ranges need the application of common sense and a bit of guesswork.

 

 

 

Hopefully the OP is coming back.  Maybe with a fuel can with 5 litre from the filling station.   Best keep one in the boot with fuel in it. 

Yes I see.  Well I will put in a load more fuel.  Maybe i've been running it too low for too long.  

I can see no way on here to individually reply to members. I clicked quote but nothing happened.

33 minutes ago, roottoot said:

Hopefully the OP is coming back.  Maybe with a fuel can with 5 litre from the filling station.   Best keep one in the boot with fuel in it. 

I'm here, and still monitoring the gauge after putting in a lot more fuel.

How do you edit an original post?

23 hours ago, J.R. said:

There is probably a bit of stiction on the float lever and also the hysteresis of the potentiometer and the damping of the fuel guage but as I said it is pointless relying on either the guage or miles remaining indicator beneath 3/8 of a tank of fuel.

 

22 hours ago, roottoot said:

@JohnnyZenith

Might tell us if he has a TSI / MPI or a TDI and what sort of average MPG the car gets. 

Not sure what the avg MPG is.  It only get's driven round the town.  It's a 2012 Monte Carlo.  TSI I think?  Petrol.

You could look at the information the car gives you and see what is shows as an average mph.     Ps edit time is limited unless a freedom member.  

Edited 1 July, 20223 yr by roottoot

10 hours ago, JohnnyZenith said:

How do you edit an original post?

See my edit of my post yesterday at 10:04 - FREEDOMLITE seems to give unlimited editing (as well as other benefits).

 

Edited 1 July, 20223 yr by nta16

 

7 hours ago, JohnnyZenith said:

I can see no way on here to individually reply to members. I clicked quote but nothing happened.

To do this I just highlighted the sentences and a green background box appears with 'Quote selection' but then the 'Quote' button also works if I want the whole post. -

 

7 hours ago, JohnnyZenith said:

Yes I see.  Well I will put in a load more fuel.  Maybe i've been running it too low for too long.  

I can see no way on here to individually reply to members. I clicked quote but nothing happened.

 

So perhaps there are other limits to non-FREEDOM too.

 

Edited 1 July, 20223 yr by nta16

Back on subject before the Thread Police get here - 

7 hours ago, JohnnyZenith said:

It only get's driven round the town.

It might pay you and the car the to go on a blow out the cobwebs run and where safe to do so give the car a bit more movement and perhaps (sensible) harder braking to loosen things up a bit.

 

Also if you only do short round town stuff it can lower the state of charge of your battery and the computers do not like that, not saying it's necessarily anything to do with your current issue, but a low battery can give all sorts of unexpected issues on these cars, just look at some of the threads here.  Check your battery and use a battery charger if required, just driving the car isn't always enough to get the battery full up.

 

Thanks a lot. People here are very helpful indeed.  So I put in another £25 and went for a better run loke suggested.  Seems to all be ok.  Obviously I wasn't getting how it works and not putting anywhere near enough in.