Technical Retrofit a fuel gauge

[JonPiz]

Is it straight forward to retrofit a fuel gauge into my 500R. I prefer to see how much fuel Ive got than the stress of wondering when the little light will come on

 

[smart51]

I've wondered this myself. I'm relatively content that when the fuel light first flashes, there's about 5l left in the tank. I've never been in a nail biting situation but it would be nice to know.

 

[fiat500]

Is it straight forward to retrofit a fuel gauge into my 500R. I prefer to see how much fuel Ive got than the stress of wondering when the little light will come on

You could easily fit the version of the tank-sender that is designed for the "L", which does have a fuel gauge. The challenging part would be to match it with a gauge that also looked right.

If you use the car regularly you get the instinct about when to full up. In my case, as soon as the low-fuel lamp stays illuminated when travelling on level ground, I refill the tank at the next time that I pass service-station. On a longer journey, I have the reassurance of knowing that there is always a five litre can of fuel in the front locker.

 

[Noah500]

Oh, how I love the 'luxury' of an L, which has a fuel gauge in the instrument cluster

 

[smart51]

Is the sender on the R just a switch then?

 

[grubscrew]

The sender is in the form of a variable resistor, like a volume control on a radio if you’ve ever taken one apart-
So what happens in the Fiat sender, the long rod which captivates the float, at the sender end has a small brass tab , and as the float lowers ( ie empties) the rod brushes the tab and creates a circuit, and then the light “wavers”, depending on gradient, acceleration etc.

 

[smart51]

The sender is in the form of a variable resistor, like a volume control on a radio if you’ve ever taken one apart-
So what happens in the Fiat sender, the long rod which captivates the float, at the sender end has a small brass tab , and as the float lowers ( ie empties) the rod brushes the tab and creates a circuit, and then the light “wavers”, depending on gradient, acceleration etc.

I know how a normal sender works, which is why I was surprised that you couldn't just fit a gauge. I thought maybe the 500 didn't have the resistor part, and was a simple switch.

 

[fiat500]

Is the sender on the R just a switch then?

On a "F" (presumed identical) the sender doesn't have rheostat windings; it is just a make or brake of the circuit.