I have a 2005 Cooper Convertible and twice within the past few months I have noticed issues with the readings on my gas gauge. The first was super noticeable as I got back into my car I notice only had a red light but the reading on the miles I had left was ---- I tried to turn the car on and off at the time and nothing. I raced to a gas station freaking out thinking some one had siphoned my gas since I had just filled the tank. I stop at the gas station turn of the car turn it on one more time and it was all better.

Then this week on the way back from Vegas I noticed that my red light was on about a mile from home (a little earlier then I expected, I should have had plenty of gas to get all the way home and to the gas station before the light even was close to coming on). The next day I get in my car to take it to get gas and now I have over a quarter of a tank (the range is now at over 100 miles). I filled the tank and it seems like the second reading was right not the first.

Has anyone else had this issue? I am still under warranty so I am going to have the dealer look at it when they fix my back seat but I still thought I would ask and see what you guys know about this problem. Thanks!

 

you probably have a bad sending unit. i have replaced a couple of those. good luck!

 

Thanks!

 

or from someone with BiM-COM. The sender codes will be stored. There are two. I've had one go bad, and one that's getting there. Keep an eye on the miles driven per tank to stay sane, until your stuff is fixed.

Matt

 

I just encountered the exact same problem thinking someone stole gas from me but I guess not. I restart the car and the gauge becomes normal. Time to call for service..

 

I just ran into this issue 2 days ago. I started to head home from work, and my fuel gauge was in the red. I knew it was a mis-reading, since I just fueled up earlier that morning.

Turned my car off...then back on - no luck. When I got in my car yesterday morning, the gauge needle SLOWLY began to go back up. It took ~1hr to get back up where it read properly. For now, I'm keeping an eye on my miles driven. Once I get over 300mi, it's time for fuel.

Did you take yours to the dealer? Was it a bad sending unit, or something else??

Thanks,
Gary

 

....

Really, they can be diagnosed remotely with a factory tool. If you have an issue, and you are under warranty, just call and make an appointment. Even if it's intermittant, the controller should store the fault code.....

Matt

 

Hmm, I recently ran out of gas while on the freeway. My gauge showed a quarter tank left, and the on board computer said I had 60 miles range--but within a few seconds, the engine quit, and wouldn't start up again---turns out I was out of gas--though I didn't realize it immediately.

Does this problem sound at all related or completely different? It's on a 2005 MCS.

Richard

 

It could be the result of not using "Top Tier Detergent Gasoline. Read the last paragraph:

http://www.alldata.com/tsb/BMW/11570...6/1305062.html

 

same thing happened to me a couple of times and my wife once. It was a sender, and the factory tool cought it. But when I went all through that stuff, I found the OBC isn't really that accurate, but after the fix, at least it wouldn't induce us to run out of gas!

Matt

 

Interesting--thanks guys.

As for the gas, I've only used Union 76--91 Octane, didn't have any issues with my 2003 MC for the past 3 years.

I'll look into the sender issue since I'm still under warranty.

Richard

 

Great link, thanks.

 

1) Erratic gas guage errors are caused by coatings on the senders (really, I think this is the slide resistor, and would have the syptom of a bouncing needle, not just an errant reading.....)
2) Use our gunk to clean it and prevent further occurances by, you guessed it, coating the sender!

But the one that really made me laugh was the stuff about the carbon build up not being covered under warranty!Like it's just the gas! If the damn cars didn't use fuel to cool the combustion chamber to the degree that they do I'm sure carbon in the combustion chambers wouldn't be much of a problem....

Sounds like the German version of Sea Foam!

Matt