75ZT Community

Well my day started out 7am with a 120 mile drive to see Lates & Pete and i arrived just after 9am,

I had my cambelts changed,new engine breather pipe,oil and filter change new water pump and thermostat with new coolant.

We had a lazy start to the day with a few cups of tea and a lot of banter but eventually my car was ready for the drive home.

Now on the way home i checked the ipk and it told me i have 100miles left before i run out of petrol and a quick check of my sat nav tells me i have 80 miles left to get home, Great i don't have to stop to refuel and I'll be home in time for my Sunday roast.

I travelled about another 60 miles which should of left me with 40miles showing on my ipk and only 20miles to travel, i was on the M25 in a 50mph roadworks section when i lost power to the car. i hit my hazard lights and managed to cost over to the inside lane but now relised that there was no hard shoulder as i was in a roadwork section of the motor way

I quickly climb across the passenger seat and got out the car as quick as i could , as i waited for 15 minutes for the recovery truck to turn up all i could think about was my car is going to get hit as you can see in the short video below it was a very close call.




As you have most probably guessed the car ran out of petrol but i had no low fuel warning light come on and the ipk showed i still had 40 miles in there. Any ideas ?

Sorry to hear of your fuel problem Andy.
Never let it get that low only advice.
The Mpg computer can be very inaccurate, check the orange clip to on fuel filter.
I am sure a useful petrol head will be along soon.
Hope just a shortage of fuel and nothing more serious.

Was you on an incline at all as this effects the reading a lot when tank is low
Low warning comes on at around the 50 miles left mark. Flashes on the IPK (Instrument pack (IPK from the German)) (Blink and you can miss it until you switch ignition off) and yellow light displays in fuel gauge.
Found out how low you could go when the fuel strikes where on and drove with 0 miles left showing for about 20 miles before I managed to fill up.

Try running the IPK diagnostic that tests all the functions, 21 rings a bell. that will tell you if the orange flashy lighty thing is working but not whether the sensor is.
I guess your heart was in your mouth every time a car went by.

The other bit that springs to mind is to do the ipk diagnostic check as iirc it can tell the level in both sides of the tank individually. The average reading is what you see on the ipk.

The other bit that springs to mind is to do the ipk diagnostic check as iirc it can tell the level in both sides of the tank individually. The average reading is what you see on the ipk.
Next time you are passing, we will "throw in" the Orange clip just in case.

Lates wrote:The other bit that springs to mind is to do the IPK diagnostic check as iirc it can tell the level in both sides of the tank individually. The average reading is what you see on the IPK.
Next time you are passing, we will "throw in" the Orange clip just in case.

I thought that too, when Mick asked a question a few weeks ago.

But I checked the circuit diagrams because someone else said you couldn't, and the diagrams say the sensors are in series, which means that the IPK can't read them individually. Only one input pin on the IPK, the other one is a ground for the fuel and ambient sensors.

Ah Mr Duncan, I have Borrowed this text, credit to its author.....

6 Fuel level sensor outputs in litres (Fuel tank has left and right side sensors)
6.0 Fuel levels both (eg: 109330 means left half sensor = 10.9 litres; right half sensor = 33.0 litres)

Lates wrote:Ah Mr Duncan, I have Borrowed this text, credit to its author.....

6 Fuel level sensor outputs in litres (Fuel tank has left and right side sensors)
6.0 Fuel levels both (eg: 109330 means left half sensor = 10.9 litres; right half sensor = 33.0 litres)

I have seen this before, but believe it is taken from the BMW system and not the Rover.

On a BMW they can be read separately but not ona Rover. What I have read is thta if the reading starts with a 1 then both sensors are working correctly, if it starts with a 2 then only one is working.

Happy to be corrected however.

Thanks for the advice chaps,

The car was on a flat stretch of the motorway well most of the M25 is flat the car did spend a good 6 hours with the front of the car jacked up I wonder I this helped to give a false reading ?

My god Andy, you didn't make it clear to me just what a dangerous position you were in

You were lucky that car and driver escaped unscathed.

I did say it was scary, now you know how i felt standing there for 20 minutes

Eek! That looks very nerve-racking! Obviously you got home okay in one piece

That's been a scary situation, Andy. Good to hear everything went well eventually.