Fool gauge
My daily drive is a 2002 BMW X5 which has clocked up some 230,000 k ilometres. I a lso have t hree children aged 10, 7 and 5. An elderly gentleman and grandfather wisely suggested to me many years ago not to upgrade t he fa mily vehicle until t he children are at least 12 years old as t he interior of any car will be t he worse for wear (and tear) by v irtue of its f unction as a mode of juvenile tra nsport. Of course, he was right.
However, older cars do wear out in critica l places. Recently, I had t he f uel pump replaced on the erst while trust y Bimmer. One cold and wet evening in August, I noticed t hat the fuel gauge showed the ta nk to be quarter f ull, t he onboard computer hav ing conveyed to me that I st i l l had suf f icient f uel for another 143 k ilometres. I decided to ref uel t he vehicle at a loca l ser vo about one kilometre from my home. As I approached the ser vo t he car sta rted to splutter and came to a complete sta ndstill at t he ser vo’s entrance. Ty pica lly, t he passing rain band was showing no sign of abating.
With t he assistance of t he ser vo manager, I was able to push t he car to a safe spot to wait for a R ACV patrol car. It was 10pm by the time t he patrolman arrived. I told him about the new fuel pump insta llation and t hat I thought the fuel pump might be the problem as I had suf f icient f uel st i l l in t he tank. He ca lled out a tow truck which arrived around midnight. The rain had eased by t his time.
The car was towed to my residence. The next day another tow truck towed the car to my BMW mechanic seven k ilometres away. Later that day he rang me to tell me t he cause of t he problem: I had run out of f uel ! He t hen explained that when the fuel pump was replaced the f uel gauge had not been reca librated meaning I was rely ing on fa ke information. The good news: there was no charge. I now ref ill t he tank when t he gauge reaches the half way mark just as a precaution.
By comparison, my f irst car, a 1961 V W beetle, had a reser ve tank which, at t he f lick of a lever, gave t he car extra range. It seems t hat in t he evolution of t he motor-car basic practica lit y has been gazumped by technologica l relia nce.
Nicholas Kanarev,
Email. Morley Says...
SOUNDS LIKE one hell of a night. But, Nicholas, you wouldn’t be the first bloke to have been tricked into a false sense of security by a wonky fuel gauge. Maybe it’s a BMW thing, but a BMW motorbike I once had as my daily transport also had a fuel gauge that constantly told pork-pies. Funny thing is, it only started to read pessimistically (much preferable to the optimistic gauge in your car) after I had it serviced