So, I fill up yesterday at the same gas station as usual. Drive off and the last candycorn is not lit. I drive 25 miles and now the last 2 candycorns aren't lit. WTF??? Guage has been finicky lately where the first ten fillups, it took ~ 100 miles for the first corn to turn off, now more recently it's been going off ~45 miles before the first corn turns off, and now this. WTF??? Can't I have just one or two problems instead of six problems at once (I won't vent about the other five...yet)? Greg

 

Hey Greg,

I guess your screwed!! Maybe if you didnt have a gauge made of candy corn you wouldnt have these problems. heehee I can tell you are getting frustrated with all the "quirks" cuz you said "wtf" 2 or 3 times. Sorry I dont have an answer for you. Maybe you should take it to MoS and get yet another "can not duplicate". Sorry man, good luck.

Dell

 

Well, now after only 75 miles, another candy corn has gone out. That means 3 candy corn lights have now gone off after only 75 miles. Hmmm. Anyone else experience anything similar? Driving habits and fuel supply/grade have not changed.

 

Check for fuel leaks WITH THE CAR ON.

On a non-MINI (1996 Mercedes C280... the wife's car), she noticed that her fuel gauge went down sharply as well as her MPG (24 to 14). We parked it in the garage and nothing was leaking. However, when she picked me up from the airport after my horrendous five month Academy, I noticed an obvious flow of gasoline under her running vehicle.

Took it to a mechanic which fixed the MPG loss and the supposed "mis-reading" gauge.

 

yep. Me too. after 6k miles, after filling the tank the last 2 lights didn't come on. It's in the shop today, having the fuel tank sending unit replaced.

 

Subdude, thanks for the info. I suspect something other than a fuel leak b/c mpg continues to be "normal", but back to the shop it'll have to go (again).

Greg

 

Greg, glad to hopefully help. Got Nigel back last night, all's well with the gauge now. The dealer had the sending unit overnighted in to replace the bad one.

 

Another data point supporting the sending unit...

Yesterday when leaving work, all but the last candycorn mysteriously light up again. So, now I've gone from having 5 candycorns "off" to only 1 after driving 200 miles without adding any fuel. I'm gaining fuel, so that's pretty good fuel economy!

 

Sweet! At that rate, you'll have to siphon out a couple gallons of gas every 100 miles or so!

 

It's most assuredly the sending unit going flaky. Should be an easy fix.

 

My problem, and one that many owners seem to have, is that the fuel gauge is very non-linear. The first fuel light goes out after between 75-100 miles, depending on MPG, but then each subsequent light goes out after a shorter and shorter time. Also, when the miles-to-empty range calculation says about 100 miles, I really have only about 50 miles to empty. MINI has a pretty generous fuel reserve, but they could have done a much better job calibrating the fuel gauge, so each light goes out proportionally, instead of dropping like a rock once you get to the last two or three lights. Another example of form over function!

 

In all cars, the first quarter of tank appears to go slower than the last quarter. The miles remaining is based on the previous average mpq and not your future mpg. So depending on your driving you might get different mpg

 

Thanks, but I already understand how the OBC works. It's not my driving, it's the gauge. I'm not overly concerned with the time it take for the first indicator to go out, it's the last few that are way, way off, very inaccurate.

 

Do you think this non-linear gauge is done by design. I never had a car (Mini or another marque) that did not do this? The Mini may have pushed it a little further.

 

I'm having a similare problem. When I filled the tank on my 08 MCS and then parked it overnight with less than 30 miles on the tank, the gauge would read 2 lights low the next time I started the car. The gauge would fix itself once the tank was a gallon or two down from full.

Took it to the dealer and they said it was a faulty fuel level sensor. It's going to get replaced at the end of the month.

 

My 07 had its fuel sending unit or guage replaced under warranty as it was acting just like the above descriptions. My first indication was after I was really low on gas, filled it completely, and then the guage showed empty. Over the course of a week, it gradually gained gas. Take it to the dealer, they will likely replace it.