One of my fuel senders is bad, because my gauge is always acting erratically. I can fill the tank and have it read empty, and then start the car 10 minutes later and have it read full. How can I test which fuel level sender it is, since the mini has two?

 

i believe one unit is a transfer pump (moves the fuel from one side of the tank to the other side to be pumped to the engine) and the other unit sends the fuel to the engine. from what ive seen on other cars they both have fuel level sensors and the ecm reads both to tell how much fuel is in the tank and to shut off the transfer pump when the fuel gets low on that side.

if your under warrenty and fairly close to a dealer id just take it in, but the problem sounds intermitten so unless its doing it at the time its at the dealer they might not be able to find anything.

as for testing. if MINI uses 2 sensors then a scan tool would be best. if you dont have one of those then you could always visually inspect them to see if they are sticking or catching on something in the tank or wait till you get your erractic reading and check each sensor with an ohmmeter and see what sensor isnt reading properly, but the readings will only be the same if the same amount of fuel is on both sides.

i have a tis cd at home and can check to see if it lists anything that can help ya out, but it will be about 4 hours till i get home.

 

its seems to be a known issue for MINIs built before DEC '04. i dont think its a tsb. the procedure is to replace both level sensors. it says its due to either bent sensor float arms or formation of deposits on the fuel level sensor conductor.

 

You cannot read the sensor values from a standard scan tool.... The inputs go into the Kombi, and can be accessed via the Instument cluster test functions. It shows you liters in the left and right sending unit.