fuel guage funkiness

[benk]

Driving in to work with 1/4 of a tank thinking "shall I top-up now?".
Suddenly guage dropped to zero and DIS bleeped at me with the picture of the fuel pump.
Next it's back to 50%, then 100%, then 0, then 25% and back to 100%.
I checked the DIS for the remaining fuel estimate and it's messing around the same as the guage - it tells me I have 425 miles left in the tank, which is a lie.

I just read other posts about this that say the problem could be one of 2 things:
1. fuel sensor in the tank (accessed via the boot).
2. instrument cluster (dashboard obviously).

I was hoping the cause would be that I usually fill up at 1/4 of a tank, but last time I let it get into the red before refilling. I was hoping some crap in the tank had confused the sensor - is that likely?
Since filling up and driving another 8 miles I have seen no repeat, but since it's a full tank and it falsely said "full tank" at the time I stopped to fill up, I have to drive 100 miles or so before I find out if it's still playing up.

When other people have had this, did it happen once and stop, or did you have to get sensor or cluster replaced?
This is a '99 1.8TS.
Thanks,
Ben

 

[imported_Skywalker]

I had this problem on mine. I think its quite common. It lasted for about a week and when I was about to phone the stealer it stopped.

Hopefully, yours will do the same.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

 

[neil.c]

New instrument cluster no improvement so two new fuel sensors sorted.

 

[pazaz]

Mines been completly unreliable for approx 4 months now, but this week seems to be working OK /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[leespears1]

mine went haywire for about a week about spring time....now its fine...just keep more than enough fuel in the tank and wait a while cuz it may sort it self out. Under warranty...get back to them stealers!

 

[noggydansar]

Ours is doing exactly the same..... really annoying because it doesnt do it all the time.

Can't really book it in because of this as its so intermittent. Best thing i've found is resetting the trip everytime you fill up and going by what you'd normally get to a tank.

 

[nervus]

It seems to go a bit dodgy if you let the tank run too low. After nearly running out (10 mile range) i filled it up and it took 45 minutes of driving before anything registered, been fine since!