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Low Fuel Warning Light

13629 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  DSHornet, 
pemdas1972
Is the low fuel warning light supposed to come on during the bulb check cycle? It does not illuminate on mine and when the fuel level is low it occasionally will blink for a few seconds and stay off. I am trying to figure out weather it's a bad bulb or a wiring issue between the fuel tank and bulb. Does anyone know the bulb type? Also, does anyone know how many gallons of fuel are left when the low fuel light illuminates?
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lovemysantafe
When my fuel light comes on I have between 2.5 and 2.75 gallons left in the tank. The bulbs that illuminate all the warning lights (i.e. seatbelt, airbag, etc.) are the same small wedge-shape bulbs. I'm not sure if they can be removed from the base nor am I sure of the part number. If you want to see if the bulb is at fault, pull the gauge cluster out and switch the low fuel bulb with another one you know works as the sockets are all interchangeable. And in answer to your original question, the low fuel light does not come on to 'test' with the ignition.
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L
Since I got my Santa Fe 2001 a couple of months ago I had noticed too that the fuel light never came on during the bulb test at the ignition. I had been wondering if the bulb was just gone, so now I finally got my answer too :).

Reading about on the net about Santa Fe's I have noticed a lot complain about there fuel gauges reading wrong and mine is no different, last week it was showing empty right on the E, so off I went to the garage and was shocked to find the tank only took 38 litres, considering it has a capacity of 65. I had never seen my fuel light for low fuel, so its kinda risky for me to know when the tank is near empty. Did Hyundai ever sort the fuel gauge issues out on the later models ?

Sorry I am not trying to hijack the thread, just adding to the discussion.
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lovemysantafe
At least in the US, Hyundai increased the tank from 17 to 19 US gallons in the middle of the '02 model year but despite this, I've occasionally had problems getting my tank to go to full. Because of this, I've found one particular pump at one station in my area that will take the car to full every time. That is the only pump I use.
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gazza!!!
QUOTE (leprechaun65 @ Jul 1 2010, 09:25 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=338076
Since I got my Santa Fe 2001 a couple of months ago I had noticed too that the fuel light never came on during the bulb test at the ignition. I had been wondering if the bulb was just gone, so now I finally got my answer too :).

Reading about on the net about Santa Fe's I have noticed a lot complain about there fuel gauges reading wrong and mine is no different, last week it was showing empty right on the E, so off I went to the garage and was shocked to find the tank only took 38 litres, considering it has a capacity of 65. I had never seen my fuel light for low fuel, so its kinda risky for me to know when the tank is near empty. Did Hyundai ever sort the fuel gauge issues out on the later models ?

Sorry I am not trying to hijack the thread, just adding to the discussion.
Click to expand...
According to the UK manual the tank capacity is 70Litres.

A Uk gallon is 4.546 litres A US gallon is 4.405 litres this gives a difference of .141 litres Tha means a 70 litre UK tank will hold 15.4 gallons and the same tank will hold 17.10 US gallons, seems that maybe the same tank is used on a lot of Santa Fe's??.


Gazza!!!
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lovemysantafe
Actually Gazza a US Gallon is only 3.78 liters so there is a big difference.
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peter9505
My tank holds exactly 72 liters and will fill up all the way, funny some block off I`ve never heard that before....
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lovemysantafe
Sounds about right:

72 liters
19 US gallons
15.8 Imperial gallons
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pemdas1972
Does anyone know where the low fuel sensor is located? I determined that the bulb is not the problem.
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DSHornet
The Santa Fe has a saddlebag-shaped fuel tank with a fuel level sensor in the right side and the combination level sensor/low fuel switch/fuel pump assembly in the left side. The two level sensors are connected in series so that the fuel quantity indication will be an average of the levels in both sides. The right side assembly also has a fuel inlet that connects through a hose to the pump on the left so the pump draws from both sides of the tank. To access both assemblies requires removal of the rear seats. They are under a flap of carpet that is under the seats.

On my '01, I had a problem with the fuel level dropping quickly to empty when the tank was still half filled. When I investigated, I found that the fuel pump assembly had been replaced some time in the past (I bought it used) with possibly a pump having the wrong resistance level sensor. I solved that indication problem by jumpering the connector on the right side float with a short piece of wire so now the left one is the only one going to the fuel gauge. When I go around a long left curve the fuel level goes down, and it goes up on a long right curve.

The switch for low fuel level goes through the ECU to, I think, provide a time delay before the light comes on. This decreases the annoying on-off flashing that the light would do if the fuel were sloshing in the tank. By watching the light when I knew my fuel level was getting low, it looks like the delay is around two-three minutes.
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