Ariel.Club Forum

You can calibrate the dash to suit. Go into the fuel field and 'calculate equation from a table of values'

1. Empty and fill with 5L, measure the voltage on the sensor and stick the voltage in the X column and '0' in the right.
2. Add 2L, measure the voltage, fill in X and Y
3. After filling up 16 fields you should have 37L in total, and a zero reading at 5L.

The software will make the curve, so when the tank is a weird shape the voltage might shift non linearly in the upper mid point, this is taken into account with readings you enter.

I've done the same with various dashes, just be sure you have the correct firmware version prior to a download, any doubt email RT, they're great. BTW you can find out your firmware by holding a couple of buttons as you turn the dash on, the software is free and the leads should have come with the car. If not I am sure someone has some.

Then set the smoothing up and the other filter.

That should make it a lot better.

Ok. This is THE most annoying thing I find about the car (5 years,approaching 20k miles of ownership) 3.5 (not the R) 245bhp. I have also had to confirm with the factory more than once, like at a service, “Is it definitely 40 litres?”. As others have noted, anything under 15-20 litres and even on a slight LEFT hand turn on my car, the fuel litres drop to zero, if it is a sustained left turn or curve. The opposite happens if going right. On straightening out the litres return to normal BUT once it starts, eventually my entire dashboard starts to glow red (rev lights) and the main display showing “Low Fuel” ie no speedometer etc. It stops becoming a dashboard with the info I need. So I then have to fill up,all the while I keep telling myself,”I am sure I have more than enough fuel left” but at the back of mind I am thinking, that may be this time I am wrong but No! When I refuel I generally get about 28-30 litres in. So had about another 65-85 mile range left at least!
On my last service at the factory Steve kept saying that they will reprogramme it to be less sensitive and it would take “2 minutes” but alas at the end of the day, he said they could not do it. It actually ruins the drive if I am out on a blast. It makes me nervous that may be this time it really is low but more seriously my dashboard stops being a dashboard and only becomes a Low Fuel Warning display. I know they (the factory) say that they are worried about fuel starvation when track driving,but this afflicted my very first car (Renault Clio!) almost 30 years ago!! Well in to the 21st Century now and this car is meant to be State of the Art. It kind of ruins the driving experience for me. If travelling longer distances it means I am pit stopping (or searching for a petrol station) an hour earlier than I need to. MM

Nomads have 50 litres so at yr empty level i should have 10 litres left.....but just worries me.

Tell me about it. Just talked to the boys in factory and they say it's got a 38ltr tank. Now surely if i had 8 ltrs in there it wouldnt be spluttering. I think i will get it down low again and take off fuel connection and let the pump empty the tank into a container to see how much I really have. I will phone previous owner just in case he had the tank foam filled as i know he had it on track a bit.

Ok good to know. Its all very confusing.

Started spluttering and you could hear the fuel getting sacked up by the pump if you know what I mean?

Sorry - but to be clear - was it spluttering and not running properly or did it just flash red and say empty ?

Right i was out again and followed the advice of its quirky and it won't be anywhere near empty.........eh naw.....I stared to run out of fuel right on the empty mark on the gauge.....I turned around and just made it to the petrol station. It took 29 1/2 ltrs. Is the tank 30 liters? Or foam filled !?!?!

I've got fairly used to it's quirks now. The most I've ever put into the tank was quite recently. I drove about 60 miles (slightly more gingerly) with it flashing zero and I still could only get 34 litres in it! I would suggest relaxing around the zero a bit boys..

However much I tell myself there must be atleast 15-20 litres left I cant help but worry when the red light is flashing all the time and it says -3 litres !!!! It was always said that after 2 hrs (usually 150 odd miles) any Atom / Nomad driver would need a rest anyway ! But trouble is when you come back to drive after a couple of weeks and the car has 18 litres apparently yet after 20 miles says 0 - this is me last weekend - its unnerving.

autobackup wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:31 pm
I currently estimate that I should get circa +/- 300 miles out of a full tank in my 3.5R - this is based on my MPG calculations but I'm really not sure whether or not it is possible to use all the fuel in the tank so I usually ensure that I fill up (at the latest) after approximately 250 miles!

300 miles for a 3.5R suggests you need to be driving it a hell of a lot harder!

On a few long road trips I've done, I pretty much top it up every 200 miles.

With fuel moving around I'd really rather not hit a fuel starvation issue for fun. I appreciate 200 miles is far away from most cars that manage twice or more, but for me it's not dissimilar to my motorbike,s o don't view it as too bad.

Is it not possible to recalibrate the sensor?

I have noticed the same.

I had a blind panic whilst out driving and the gauge hit zero, drove very conservatively to the garage and filled up with just over 20 litres!

I mentioned this at the 500 mile service at the factory and the advice was to fill up every 150 miles or so.

I think over time you will get to know the car and these quirks, keeps it intersting.

Ah so when my gauge was reading nearly empty it might not have been anywhere near it. Thats why it only took 27ltrs to fill....