e39 Fuel tank connections
Printed From: Bavarian-Board.co.uk - BMW Owners Discussion Forum
Category: Technical & Model Specific Forums
Forum Name: BMW 5 Series
Forum Discription: This forum will deal with any issues on the BMW 5 Series (E12, E28, E34, E39, E60 & E61)
URL: http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=47617
Printed Date: 27-May-2024 at 06:11
Topic: e39 Fuel tank connections
Posted By: stephen520i
Subject: e39 Fuel tank connections
Date Posted: 11-March-2011 at 00:32
Mates e39 520i manual fuel guage was not working (6 months plus). He found some links to do onboard tests which pointed him to the tank on the drivers side (2 tanks in an e39 apparently).
Disconnected the battery.
I removed the cover plate ,disconnected the wiring loom, then tapped open the sealing ring. Lifted out the float mechanism. Found float connected to lever arm. Checked for contunity between the loom pins and the slider contacts (which are changed by the level of the float). Found the common terminal to be open circuit. The wire was fine at the slider but loose at the rear of the wiring loom pin.
I played safe and stripped the insulation of the cable and then wrapping it around the pin terminal. Then slide the protective sleeve over the terminal.
Reconnected the battery and now the fuel guage is working properly.
Could I have soldered the wire to the rear of the terminal? O used heat shrink?
Didn't want to as had no info/reason to do so (inside a fuel tank).
I was not able to remove the old crimp terminal, didn't want to use force as I had not got complete access to tools ( at his house, not mine).
I suspect that my cable solution will come undone and I want to have the solution before that.
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E34 520i auto leather
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Replies:
Posted By: ThosH
Date Posted: 11-March-2011 at 00:54
Hi, First impression -- without any detailed knowledge of tank layout/connections that you describe.
Great that you found source of problem, but I would be very worried about the prospect of the connection becoming loose ..... as you fear will happen. I think that there is a real danger of sparking, which would cause an explosion.
Mind you, if you found the connection open cct, then you would imagine that this would have been preceded by some sparking ....
I'll be interested in other comments, but I think that soldering + heat shring via heat of soldering iron ( not any other source of heat, like a hair drier which might introduce sparks) would be safe. I imagine that you were working in petrol vapour. I've never tried it, but I imagine that heat of a soldering iron would not ignite a vapour mix.
We can expect lots of interesting comments!
ThosH
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