E34 fuel gauge behaviour (near empty)

[ktteoh]

folks, i never run the car down to nearly empty fuel level before - yesterday was a first so i observed the following:

1. when it nears empty (first time), the warning light comes on
2. then after driving for quite a while the needle goes back to the 1/4 mark and the warning light stays off

is this a normal behaviour?

now does the e34 petrol tank has a hidden aux tank that kicks in once the main one empties?

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

I first cleaned the sender filiments, and it didn't work....but new capacitors in the cluster board fixed my wild gas gauge.

[bissellh]

I first cleaned the sender filiments, and it didn't work....but new capacitors in the cluster board fixed my wild gas gauge.

My car has the same behavior. Did you get the replacement capacitors at at dealer?

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

My car has the same behavior. Did you get the replacement capacitors at at dealer?

picked up the capacitors from digi-key for a few bucks and did it myself

[Phatty5BMW]

My 535 does this also sometimes.. not quite a 1/4 tank, it sits on the line of E. My parents e32 does this too. Yes they have a aux. tank I just learned that, I have no idea how that all works yet but im bound to find out

Pat

[bissellh]

picked up the capacitors from digi-key for a few bucks and did it myself

I know you are a DIYer as I am too. I just meant did you purchase the capacitors from your local dealer. Anyway, I want to do the capacitor change on my instrument panel gas guage in my 1992 BMW 525i. Do you happen to have the specs handy on what kind of capacitors I need to do the job on my car or is it easier just to pull them out of the car and go look for the matching ones needed to do the job?

Also, I have never heard of digi-key and a white pages search of it here in Colorado yielded no results. Do you know of other avenues where I could source the neeeded capacitors to do the job myself? How about Radio Shack or an auto parts store?

[Michael999]

there are good instructions on Brunos website for capacitor change, it cleared guages up for me for the most part