I don't know what this means but the gas gauge on my ancient and =
battered BMW 320i has a 3/4 mark that is barely one needle thickness =
away from the full mark. The other 3 marks( 1/2 tank, 1/4 tank and =
empty) are pretty much evenly spaced over the other 9 10ths of the dial. =
It has a "you are about to run out of gas" light embedded in the E =
mark, and a thirteen gallon tank. When the light has come on and I fill =
it up it takes twelve gallons.=20
=20
Phil Vanner
'61 Midget=20
'83 320i. (Takes a licking and keeps on ticking)
-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Palmer [SMTP:ctp@gbn.org]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 1998 11:50 AM
To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Fuel guage sender ohms, second try -Reply
Well...
The cynic in me says that it's economics or laziness or apathy on the =
parts
of the car companies.
Is there a way to get linear output?
ABSOLUTELY...piece of cake for a resistor maker. BUT:
They would have to have a different sender for any change in size and =
shape
of fuel tank. Car companies don't like to pay for X number of 10 =
different
items, when they can get 10X of one piece for a lot less money.
The bottom line: Is Ford losing to Chevy or vice versa because their =
fuel
guages don't read spot on?
CTP
>Which begs the question, "Why aren't all cars done this way?". Is
>there a way that other automakers use to get linear output from the
>sender? I would think that this would be a pretty mature technology
>by now.
>Scott
>> A fuel tank sender is a variable resistor. The uneven spacing of =
lines on
>> a guage is because the resistance output of the sender is not linear =
per
>> quantity of fuel in the tank.
>>
>> CTP
>>
>>
>> At 10:23 PM +0000 1/13/98, Scott Gardner wrote:
>> > My brother's BMW had the 1/4-tank marks spaced unevenly
>> >along the face of the gauge, but they were accurate. Perhaps this
>> >was to compensate for problems with the gauge?
>>
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