Hi all
1st time owner of a 2009 V50 1.6 drive
lovely car and really enjoy it but have come up against an issue with the fuel gauge. Tank is nearly full and its only registering a quater of a tank. Also the problem i have is that the gauge goes down to zero even though it still has 3/4 of a tank, computer then goes to zero and puts the car into limp mode and says low fuel level. It then won't go over 3000 revs and has limited power. Really annoying as it's got plenty of fuel in it. Have had back seats out and there is no access to the sender unit so I'm now at a loss of what to do, do I get sender replaced ? Obviously I can't go on like this as it's putting car into limp mode when it "thinks" it has no fuel, is there anything anyone could suggest apart from a tank off and replacement of the sender ? Thankyou so much for any suggestions

 

My recollection (always suspect) is that Volvo changed over the sending units mid-year (some year) and that the old one in the "new" car (or vice versa) would produce this result.

Was the car like this when you got it?

Check this and the S40 forum for a thread on bad fuel level sender, and I'll bet you find it (it was within the last year, I believe).

 

Thanks for the reply, I will have a look on the s40 forum and see if I can find anything. It worked fine when I got the car a few months back then I ran the tank down quite low and diesel light came on, filled her up and that's when the issues started, curiously it has now got very mild this week and hey presto it's started working correctly again, not sure if this is coincidence or related to the issue, someone suggested changing the fuel pump relay as it may be an intermittent voltage fault ? Looks like it's going to be some trial and error I guess before spending the big bucks and changing the whole unit 🤔

 

If it's working OK now, you can rule out the wrong part then. Sounds likely that it's either a sender unit with a thermal issue, or a connection somewhere that's affected by temperature. It won't be the fuel pump relay (saved you some effort and cost - you're welcome). ;-)