fuel guage wrong ??

[colinandvenie]

Hey guys, I read somewhere recently about the different fuel gauges on early MK1 mini's.
Mine is a '63 , and when the fuel gauge rises to full, it is actually running out of gas. When I fill the tank, it reads empty.
How do I tell between the different gauges without fitting them all, to get the right one ??? cheers

[bmcman.ie]

is your fuel sender unit fitted upside down? just a thought! ian.

[nick rogers]

The early (non-stabilised) gauge has 3 spade contacts, 2 on one side and 1 on the other. The later gauge, which I suspect you have in your 63, has only 2. I have early gauges on my website if you need one.
This whole story gets more complicated when senders get swapped around.

[Nevsmini]

As Nick says it gets more complicated if the fuel senders are changed. Is the fuel sender bolted in or held in with a clip. A photo of both the sender on the tank and the back of the speedo and nick should be able to sort you out.

[colinandvenie]

Cheers for the info guys, my fuel tank sender is in the pic, and the fuel gauge has three spade terminals-- 2 on the empty side, and 1 on the full side. The car is posi- earth , with no voltage stabilizer bolted behind the speedo. Any more info would be great
Cheers
Colin

[Andrew1967]

I'd have thought your car should have a non stabilised gauge as its a 63. Stabilisation came in around 64 if I remember correctly.

The wiring loom at the back looks like it should have a round terminal where the rubber cap is, which bolts onto a threaded post on the early screw in sender unit. The tank looks to be a later one with the later type sender unit that uses spade terminals. It also has the pressing in it to take a diagonal securing strap which is a 70's type tank, unless overseas tanks are different ?

I might be wrong but I thought that the three terminal gauges were for the stabilised system. The extra terminal takes the link wire between the stabiliser and gauge.

Apologies if I am wrong on this and I stand to be corrected. It's 5am in the morning and I'm just off to work, so am still half asleep

[nick rogers]

Andrew is partly correct. Your problem the tank. You have a very late tank in your 63. The original one would have no diagonal stripe or a locking ring sender. It would have a 6 screw sender unit. As I said earlier, this gets more complicated when senders are swapped. Your easy solution would be a later gauge and a voltage stabiliser. If you go for this (I can supply both) do not connect the temp gauge to the stabiliser as it is probably already the correct one.

[colinandvenie]

cheers for the replies, guys, I have a later gauge and voltage regulator in my stash of parts.
Much appreciated
Colin