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Old 10-06-2001, 06:20 AM
David C Klasse's Avatar
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Location: Mission Hills in the City of San Diego
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Fuel Level Sender

I just had my lower control arm bushings replaced (THANK GOD!!), and they had to reconnect a gas tank support. But about the same time that the gas tank came a little loose, my fuel gauge was not reading properly.

Whenever I fill the tank, it goes to only 3/4 of the way. By the time it is at empty, the gauge is actually accurate again. Point is that the fuel gauge doesn't seem to be reading properly. My service advisor told me that if I wanted it fixed, I would need a new fuel sending unit, at a cost of about $250, and we agreed that it wouldn't be worth it.

I know that the C-class has a common problem with the sending unit where they can completely fail. Mine has not completely failed, though it's inaccurate. Is something dirty? ...causing a slightly miscalibrated reading? Is there anything I can clean or check to hopefully correct the problem?

Thanks in advance everyone.

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2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)
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Old 10-06-2001, 11:12 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Jacksonville Florida
Posts: 724
Question late fuel level sending units

David, as you know the 202 as well ALL late mb fuel level sending units are well JUNK!!!! as a former mb tech when the 202 first came out we tried several ways to check the fuel level sending units... first you need to drain the tank at both ends... then use the mb factory tool to remove the sending unit to inspect the contact on the fuel level sending unit and its contact on the slide that goes off when checked with a ohm meter and since its out you might as well replace it. note when the problem was first found we would clean the contact with a ERASER YES A PENCIL ERASER!!! it would work because the sending units were on a national back order at the time David dont feel bad my 2000 e class has the same JUNK fuel level sending unit i replaced it 3 times and well you know the story


good luck and the best way to check the fuel level is to
just write down the miles yeah kinda primative

mark
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  #3  
Old 10-09-2001, 11:16 AM
drbtsi
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fuel sender

the only way to fix this problem is to replace the sender unit which is actually two seperate units. your gas tank is actually two tanks tha connect over the drive shaft. i think its something in the gas thats corroding the units. i mean fuel senders hav been around for along time. there is also a sweep test that can be perfomed on the instrument cluster to make sure the gauge istself has full range of motion. good luck
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Old 10-09-2001, 02:11 PM
David C Klasse's Avatar
CheFrac is Back!
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Mission Hills in the City of San Diego
Posts: 2,355
Good thinking... I had a different service advisor this past time though, I didn't know him. But (w/o me even asking) he told me that that would be hard to get MB to fix cost-free to me because I now have 100k miles.
I am going back to FJ on Friday with my normal advisor, so I will see what he can do. Should I suggest split cost if he won't do it for free?

THANKS AGAIN!
__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)
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  #5  
Old 10-19-2001, 03:06 AM
David C Klasse's Avatar
CheFrac is Back!
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Mission Hills in the City of San Diego
Posts: 2,355
Oddly enough, the problem corrected itself a few fill-ups ago. When I filled it, the needle went to the 1/1 mark just like before! Weird... I hope it operates the way it should in the future!

DRBTSI,
How do I perform this sweep of the gauge cluster to ensure full range of motion? Thanks a bunch.
__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)
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  #6  
Old 10-19-2001, 08:43 AM
Robert C. Eberhardt
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Posts: n/a
Fuel Level Sender

My wife's 1995 C 280 as well as my 2000 ML 320 has done the same thing on occasion. Thankfully, the fuel gauges have performed flawlessly for the last 1/2 year. Like yours, after a fill-up, the fuel gauge only goes to 3/4 full or will stop reading altogether. Usually after several fill-ups, the gauge goes back to working normal. I believe it is something in the fuel (dirt?) that gets on the fuel sending unit and until it gets cleaned off it causes an erratic reading on the fuel gauge.

My wife no longer gets concerned when this happens since she says it will "fix itself." You may want to try a different gas station or gas brand. For some reason every time we fill up using a certain brand of fuel (name unmentioned), no matter what service station for this brand we use, it causes the fuel gauge to act erratic. We no longer use this brand and since -- no problems.

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