How to tell if gas light is not working?

[e304me]

My gas gauge always shows past empty for a little bit before my gas light comes on, but it had been like that for several trips and I was worried. I turned the car off then put the key in position 2 and the gas light did not light up. Does it light up in position 2 to show that its working like all the other warning lights do or no?

[efficient]

my light does not pop up when I'm low on fuel. idk what it is though

[ak-]

Gas light wont turn on when you have the key in accessory position.
Mine is sort of like that - needle goes into red zone, but gas light wont turn on till it's a little further down. I'm starting to think it is just needle positioning because I once bonked my temperature gauge while I had the cluster gauge out and was too afraid of re-positioning it, thinking I'll break something. Once re-installed, 1/4 on my temp gauge was 190 degrees lol (which is around 1/2 in actuality for the gauge). So I took it out, again, and readjusted it.
So, this leads me to believe the fuel gauge might just need a minor needle adjustment too. I don't know.

[ELVA164]

I'm pretty sure that's normal. If you want to double check, the light comes on when the OBC (if you have one) says 50 miles to empty.

[TobyB]

Mine's the other way- it comes on at just below 1/4 tank.

Throw a 2 gallon can of gas in the trunk, and run it dry!

(then think about your poor fuel pump...)

t

[Dirty325ix]

I took me about a year to figure out I even had one and it worked....even got it towed cause I thought I wouldn't have enough gas without knowing I had at least a gallon to go...kinda wish I never figured it out

[spdracrm3]

you can actually adjust the pot on some OBC to set when the light comes on

there is a write-up in german on this site http://www.e30.de/

Reichweite im BC2 eichen

its a bit hard to understand even with a translation but you can see what they are doing ,the little cover they remove is hard to see but its there to remove and adjust the pot to 7.5L,6l ,5L

[mr.vang]

keep driving until you get stranded

[15Michaeljoseph]

I've never seen mine come on...even when the OBC says 35 mi to go... maybe the bulb's burned out.


--Mike

[Vincent Brick]

Mine has yet to come on since owning the car, don't have an OBC though so no way to confirm much. I intend to check the bulb next time the cluster is out.

[efficient]

you can actually adjust the pot on some OBC to set when the light comes on

there is a write-up in german on this site http://www.e30.de/

Reichweite im BC2 eichen

its a bit hard to understand even with a translation but you can see what they are doing ,the little cover they remove is hard to see but its there to remove and adjust the pot to 7.5L,6l ,5L

If the BCII retrofitted or replaced the dip tube sender in the tank, it may make sense to BC to recalibrate in order to obtain a more precise range specification. Miracles but need not be expected, since the individual components simply comprise self (tank, tube sensors, suction of the feed pump (VFL) or fuel pump NFL)) in addition to their many tolerances.
Some BCs have no settings, this applies mostly to the U.S. models.

A few preliminary remarks to the range calculation in BC:
About PIN 13 and 18 gets the value from the BC tube sensors and the contact of the reserve light. As long as the reserve light is off, the range is calculated from the level of the tank and the average consumption of the last 30km. Go to the reserve light, the BC takes the data stored in the coding level (eg at E30 5L) instead of the true level. The mileage is only counted down, disconnecting the battery, for example, leads to even more incorrect predictions of range.
Therefore, there is the conclusion that precisely even the BC must be adjusted to 5L rest content in the tank when the reserve light lights up. (4.5 or 5.5 L E24, E23 8L, E28 5,5 L)

Now to the fact:
The tank should be relatively empty. Now you can drive until the reserve light just affecting or slowly as far as pulling the tube sensors from the tank until it lights up. I have opted for the second solution because I did not want to screw the middle of the road on the car.

Remove the rear seat bench, Fold felt on the passenger side.
Maintenance cover

Using Phillips screwdriver, unscrew the cover maintenance, pay attention to seal when removing.
Maintenance cover open

Remove with a pin at the BC coverage for the potentiometer.
Cover pot

Ignition on - position 2, all electricity consumers (eg: rear window, fan, air etc) from. At the BC press the buttons 1000 and 1 simultaneously to indicate the tank contents.
BC

The following work is shown on the model pre-face-lift, as the post-face-lift model has the fuel pump in the tank, some details may be different.

Tube sensors solve (SW8) and lift slowly until the reserve light just now so concerned. Since the tubular-type sensor has only a tiny fill hole for better absorption, you should bring some patience. Tube sensors in this position wedge (shown here with the red screwdriver).

Donors raised reserve light

With a watchmaker screwdriver set the pot on the BC so the transition from 6 to 5L that the display but in the end stops on 5L. (E23, E24, E28 corresponding values)
Adjust potentiometer 5L Set

All Reassemble in reverse order and you're done.

[dnguyen1963]

If you want your fuel pump to last, fill up the tank when it is less than 1/4 full.

[McGyver]

My light only comes on after the needle gets about 2mm past the R and is right on the edge of the light. Then the car runs out of gas about 1-2 mm past the light. (I took a gas can with me because i wanted to know)

[Gregs///M]

I believe that light comes on when there is less than 6L of fuel left in the tank. With your OBC, you can view liters left by hitting 1000 key and 1 key at the same time.