When I go and fill up (half full) my fuel tank the petrol indicater shoots up as if it is fully topped and sometimes goes over the gage like stuck. Any indication what the problem might be. Tks.

usually means the fuel gauge sender unit in the fuel tank is buggered. access it under the plastic panel under the boot carpet. but try banging the dash above the gauge first.

In fact I do bang to release indicator but this happens every time I fill up my tank. Is your advise to release it from the boot. In actual fact can I do it myself? in what position in the boot compartment can I actually access it. Tks for your advise.

if banging on the dashboard makes the fuel gauge correct itself then the problem in not in the tank. in that case you should check the wiring connections on the back of the instument panel.

however if banging does nothing it is worth replacing the sender unit in the tank. if you remove the boot carpet you will see a round plastic panel, romiving it will give you access to the fuel pump and sender unit.

have you got a haynes manual? it would help a lot.

What happens is that when I fill my tank half full the indicator starts going up as if full and usually gets stuck when I put the ignition on. It starts going down when the tank is a quater full and does not get stuck again until I fill up .

thats a strange one? i'd try replacing the fuel sender unit with a scrapyard one. it'll only cost a couple of quid.

Will do so. I presuem that it is easy to replace?

whenever you work on anything to do with the fuel system there is a risk, so a haynes manual or similar is strongly advised. but yes its easy. the only wires in that area are for the pump or sender unit, its obvious which is which so just follow the wires to success

Tks for all your help will take you advise in purchasing a manual .

I would like to continue with the above. As the fuel gague is not working well what would be the consequences if the fuel indicator comes on. Is is just that you might stop without fuel ? or there are some indications before this happens. I am asking this as it seems that when the orange light comes on the engine starts working in an awkward situation. It might be that the fuel is lower then expected when the orange light comes on? I would like to know to rest my mind that it is not an engine problem. Tks.

there should be no consequences of the low fuel light coming on, except you will run out of fuel soon. i'd driven many cars with the orange light on for several miles with no problems.

if the engine feels noticably different it may be due to low fuel pressure if there is not enough fuel to adequately supply the pump. by this point you have very little petrol in the tank, and driving up hill should make it worse.