MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - Fuel tank ground and low fuel indicator light

After re-fitting the fuel tank on my TD the low fuel indicator light does not work. (The bulb tests ok.)

After looking at the schematic, it seems to me that in order for it to work the fuel tank (or the sender?) needs to be grounded to the chassis.

Is that correct? Where is the grounding (earthing) connection?

Thanks.

Mark Sherman
mrkshrmn@hotmail.com
Mark Sherman

Mark - As I remember (it's been twenty some years since our TD was apart) there was no ground wire going to the fuel tank. In theory, the tank should get it's fround through the metal fuel line to the fuel pump, which is in turn grounded. That is good in theory, but if there is a bit of flezable fuel line interposed anywhere along the run or if one installs an aftermarket pump such as the Moprod pump that is all plastic, no ground gets to the tank. The easiest solution would be to run a wire from under one of the cover screws on the back of the sensor (not one of the mounting screws as that goes all the way through into the tank and if the tank is fill above that point, when you take the screw out to attache the wire, the fuel comes out through the hole) to a convenient bolt in the frame (one of the rear shock mounting bolts comes to mind). Be sure to scrape the ground points down to bare metal and coat it with some kind of conductive grease while making the connections. See my article on ground point preparations at: http://www.omgtr.ca/technical/General_Technical/grounding.htm
Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

My TF is set up with a ground wire that is part of the harness and goes to the back of the sender as David describes.
D Clark

Mark, the standard grounding is through the metal fuel line. As David said, if this fuel line is electrically interrupted, you'll need to provide a separate ground to the sensor.
Bud Krueger

Dave:

Aha!

Thanks for your timely response. (I posted the question before stopping for lunch and your reply was there before I went back to work!)

That explains it. I never thought that the fuel line was also the ground. Upon re-fitting the tank I also added an auxiliary electric fuel pump underneath and I cut the line to re-route the fuel thru that pump.

Now it's back to work to get it all back together.
Thanks again for your help.

Mark
Mark Sherman

This thread was discussed between 10/12/2005 and 11/12/2005

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.