Fuel Guage Problems

[l3ddy]

I am having a weird problem with my fuel gauge working fine then all of a sudden display goes empty and comes up fuel level low, this stays on for approx 10 minutes then as driving fuel guage comes back on but goes to completely full,

 

Then will go off again and keeps coming back on, but now all of a sudden has starting working correctly again counting down the range and the fuel guage seems about right,

 

has anybody else ever experienced anything like this, it is booked in at jaguar on friday but if its anything i can do my self and save some money then thats brilliant

 

thank you in advance

 

Ant

[knightsmith]

Anthony,.

 

The best thing you can do it not to book it into a Jaguar dealership, the first thing they will do will be to put it on their diagnostic computer, which can cost up to £90 .

 

Is your battery in good working order? quite often these anomalies happen to Jags when the battery is on the way out  .

 

Wait until Peter comes online, he lives in the West Midlands, and maybe his mobile mechanic lives near you, if not, I'm sure he will know of a good independent garage near you .

 

ATB,

 

Trevor

[Old Peter]

H Anthony,

 

I have never come across this particular issue, and I would suggest it could be something like a loose electrical connection.  I would be inclined to check out the fuse first, just to set my mind at rest.

 

There is a topic in the Jaguar Owners Lounge [Just look up Forums on the site]. A few people have recommended a Garage in

Northfield as a good independent Jaguar.

 

A big problem with the West Midlands County is that it is a Traffic Jam in between Sutton Coldfield to Stourbridge and Coventry to Wolverhampton, and what seem close on the map can be at least an hour's drive,

 

Regards,

 

Peter.

[l3ddy]

sorry about late reply  been busy, but fault has fixed itself gauge has worked perfectly all week, very strange but i'll just keep a eye on it

 

thanks for all your replies

[alanswain]

did it stop, i have the same problem, and always warning after i fill up with fuel, i would like to know if anywon has solved the problem.

[Lord H]

I have had the exact same issue always just after filling up I am putting it down to maybe over filling the tank 

[l3ddy]

Yeah to the last two comments it has gone ok now even when I fill up it still works fine ? Any ideas

[Poi man]

Two of my friends have the 2010 XF and both have had this problem, one of them had the "it seems to have fixed itself scenario" but it did come back again and again.

Both had the fuel sender replaced to fix the problem.

I have read that it's a common fault but it's not the sender with the issue but the wiring attached to it (plug)

I'm not sure if this plug is inside or outside the fuel tank though.

[l3ddy]

Thanks for the info, mine is the same has been ok now for a couple of months (touch wood) would you mind asking them how much it costs to be repaired if they wouldn't mind telling you thanks

[Poi man]

Hi Anthony he said it was about £600 as the fuel tank needs to come out.

[l3ddy]

Oh right what happens to the wiring does it burn out or something?

[Poi man]

I get the impression it's a corrosion problem and probably the plug could be cut off and wires joined. If you do get more problems have a hunt around the fuel tank to see if there is an external plug, I would be very surprised if a simple plug was inside the fuel tank where it could obviously get soaked in fuel.

[Old Peter]

Ian, I think what you have suggested is the correct route.   And probably the cheapest.  Taking out the petrol tank to get at something fairly fundamental does seem a bit drastic.

 

Peter.

[l3ddy]

Yeah if I get any more issues I'll take a butchers to see if I can see anything, but if you could replace the plug without removing the tank , why would they need to take the tank out

[Poi man]

I can only imagine that cutting wires is not in Jaguars vocabulary it would more likely be changing the unit they are attached to.

[teltrish221]

I had this problem 5000 miles ago , and as stupid as it sounds it was all to do with the key Fob battery being low. So before you do anything else please just change your key fob battery!

[kpt]

On 8 June 2016 at 10:25 AM, teltrish221 said:

I had this problem 5000 miles ago , and as stupid as it sounds it was all to do with the Key Fob battery being low. So before you do anything else please just change your key fob battery!

I have just purchased an S type and have the same issue with intermittent readings on the fuel gauge. It's all over the place. Can the trip computer range of miles be relied on and why has the low key fob battery had anything to do with it?

[DennisEGilbert]

Any updates to this thread?  I have a 2010 XF, around 56k miles (USA) and a couple of weeks ago I got a FUEL LEVEL LOW warning in my center console, then my gauge on the dash showed empty. The tank was actually only about 50 miles after a fill up.  Thought this was a fluke situation. Today driving with about 1/3 of a tank the same thing happened. In both instances after several minutes the fuel gauge went back to normal.  I'm the first/only owner of the car and it never did this before. The only other thing I can mentioned is before the first time it happened I filled the tank really full (pushed it a little more than normal), but not unreasonable, just after the pump stopped I squeezed in some extra. I've read forums about the "senders" going bad.  Just curious if anyone has any additional information.  Thanks. 

[kpt]

My S-type is in the garage just now to try and fix this problem. It has been there for 5 days now and still not resolved. I would say that 8 times out of 10 it is not showing the correct reading. The needle is even at the 6 o'clock position at times. But typical of any intermittent faults it is working every time the garage investigates. Watch this space.

[Barry Johnson]

I currently have a similar problem, the first time the 'Low Fuel Alert' message appeared was about 5 miles after filling up the tank. For about the next week the alert appeared and disappeared intermittently, before becoming a permanent alert. I had the car booked in with the local Jaguar dealer to look at this and a number of other alerts that all appeared within days of it being serviced (by a Jaguar garage), but before the appointment date things got worse with the engine juddering every few seconds and cutting out at idle and slow speeds. Unable to drive it to the Jaguar dealer I took to my nearest independent garage. They had a look and told me that the fuel level sender float was sticking, and if the computer thinks fuel level is too low it stops the engine to prevent damage to the injectors and various other components, which running the tank dry would cause. The local garage told me it will probably still need replacing, but there is a 'get home' solution. The fuel level sender unit is underneath the offside rear passenger seat, with the seat removed if you give the unit a tap it frees the float (hopefully, unless its really stuck fast) fuel level indication returns to normal and away you go, until it sticks again. I haven't looked at whether the sender unit is a DIY replaceable item as there are still all the other alerts that I need the Jaguar people to resolve.

[Paul lomax]

Iv got 2011 xfand my empty fuel keeps coming on its been in to a garage twice ist time they cleaned resealed the plug worked for 6 weeks then second time they cut the plug off 4weeks later its gone again dont want to go to jag och 

[Janboy68]

I am a member of this club because my son has an XF Portfolio, but unfortunately is not mechanically-minded! His car has the same problem as all the others on this thread, in that his fuel gauge has stopped working. As he lives in the South East of England and I live in Durham, I cannot see the car to assess the fault, but I would guess that there are two options for the fault; either the sender unit is not working due to a defective float, or the sender unit wiring is corroded/loose. In the past I have had this fault on other cars I have owned, and found that either of these faults are relatively easy to fix for anyone who has a modicum of mechanical know-how. If as described by a previous contributor to this thread that the sender unit is located under the offside rear passenger seat, the sender unit should be easily accessible, so that the condition of the wiring can be assessed and de-corroded or replaced, or the sender unit can be removed from the tank and replaced by a new one, or a known serviceable second-hand unit, not forgetting to observe safety rules when working around a fuel tank! This may save a lot of money compared to booking the vehicle into a Jaguar dealership for repair. If anybody has another solution to the problem I would be happy to hear it.

[Old Peter]

Hi Graham and welcome to the club.

Luckily, I have never had this problem with a car  --  I did have a cable problem with a motor cycle which was easily solved.

I think that you have correctly diagnosed the probable solutions and a good mechanic could do that job much cheaper than a main dealer.

Regards,

Peter.

[Sull]

On 10/15/2016 at 10:56 AM, DennisEGilbert said:

Any updates to this thread?  I have a 2010 XF, around 56k miles (USA) and a couple of weeks ago I got a FUEL LEVEL LOW warning in my center console, then my gauge on the dash showed empty. The tank was actually only about 50 miles after a fill up.  Thought this was a fluke situation. Today driving with about 1/3 of a tank the same thing happened. In both instances after several minutes the fuel gauge went back to normal.  I'm the first/only owner of the car and it never did this before. The only other thing I can mentioned is before the first time it happened I filled the tank really full (pushed it a little more than normal), but not unreasonable, just after the pump stopped I squeezed in some extra. I've read forums about the "senders" going bad.  Just curious if anyone has any additional information.  Thanks. 

Hi,

I’d like to update this thread. I had the same experience as Dennis with my 2010 XKR. After pushing it a little past the first click on filling up I had random Fuel Level Low warnings which reverted to normal after a short period. It kept happening even after refilling, without pushing it past the first click, for about 3 weeks. I eventually convinced the local garage to just clear all errors on the computer and after that it only occurred once more and has not recurred. It has now been over a year with no further issues. I spoke to a local, older, Jag mechanic. Who said it was the overfilling that did it. Worth knowing when the local dealer wants over $1000 to replace the fuel sender to correct the issue.

[Anthony 454]

I have 2010 XF. A number of years ago (probably 5 or more) I was traveling in Colorado and had just put in gas. I was over 10,000 feet above sea level and the low fuel warning came on . Stopped in Aspen and put in more fuel, around 1 gallon. The warning never again came on so I put it down to the altitude. 

I now have 74,000 miles and the low fuel warning came on about a week ago. The fuel gage showed no reading (empty) had around half a tank at the time. After a while the fuel gauge again showed a reading. Has happened a few times since then. The reading seems to come back in a short while. Put in gas today and so far no problems. Sounds like this is another of the really expensive fixes that I have experienced since I have owned this car. The biggest mistake I made was not buying an extended warranty.

This car has been an absolute money pit with problems that I have never experienced with any other car I have owned. Amongst these the sensor or something went in the fuel filler pipe and the whole thing had to be replaced, over $2000.No choice as it was almost impossible to put in gas. The handbrake stopped working, another $2000 plus. the water pump replaced 3 times. Coolant all over the garage floor on numerous occasions.. Leather on the dashboard bubbling up due to incorrect adhesive used. Jaguar has a so called " courtesy contribution" that has to be determined with the dealer and based on the age of the vehicle. A new dashboard seems to be the fix at great expense to the owner. Never was able to get a number from the dealer even after 3 years. The courtesy contribution goes down by every year the car ages. 

Bottom line is this is a fun car to drive but it sure costs a fortune to run. Everything that needs to be fixed is really complicated to do and costs a lot. i guess there is a reason for their dismal rating. .