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Low fuel warning - adjust?

12K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Doncooper 
#1 ·
Did my first road trip in the Cooper S Countryman (2014) yesterday and was wondering whether it's possible to adjust the low fuel warning distance? It seems to come on when DTE is <150km, which is a bit silly.

It flashes up the alert in the area of the tacho where the speed readout normally lives. Problem is - that's where the speed is displayed - the large speedo in the centre of the dash is unreadable as it's too far from the driver's eyeline.

Of course I could just fill up, but it seems to be very conservatively set, especially given the small tank on the Countryman?

Is there anything else that is worth customising when I go and visit the dealer?

Also haven't managed to edit the indicator from single flash to '3 flash' mode. Is there a trick to that?

Aside from that, the car feels good. Not as quick as I was expecting, but not bad.
 
#3 ·
Average fuel mileage on that trip X2 = miles left. That is when light comes on. If you are averaging 28mpg then light will come on at 56 miles, if you have 30 mpg then light comes on at 60 miles left. It warns that you have 2 gals. left in tank. As for setting lights use left switch and go to set/info as stated in manual. Manuals are free on line. You can set lights on, off, door locks, daytime lights, blinker time etc., from left stalk and dash. fuel will override speedo on tach for a few miles and you can turn it off, it will come on until you fill. If on trip and making good time I adjust tach to read miles left and pull in as I feel right. Big speedo in middle unreadable, that is a new one.
 
#4 ·
Big speedo in middle unreadable, that is a new one.
:) I see your point, but in a RHD Countryman, legal speeds are waaay over to the left hand side. I find it very awkward to look all the way over there to see the speed, I never look at it when driving.

The setup on my old R50 was much better with a tach and speedo in front of the wheel, and oil pres, oil temp and water temp in a big circular location. Our Countryman doesn't even have a water temp gauge!?

I'll have another play with the settings on the indicator stalk, I managed to find a few settings, but wasn't able to modify the indicator flashes. So the dealer doesn't have access to anything else interesting that might be worth customising?
 
#5 ·
Dealer can only give you the settings in the menu. I never use speedo as I mainly run off the tach. Pretty familiar with speeds per rpms in each gear.
 
#6 ·
Hmm, I'm still trying to get used to a 6 speed box - I've only owned 5 speeders before. Still find myself skipping gears on the way up and down.

Problem is, here in Australia we have really *really* strict speed enforcement. I got pinged the other day for 116km/h in a 110 zone by a hidden camera. That was the 3rd camera on that 250km stretch of road... Which means that if we're not on the cruise control, drivers seem to spend all their time looking at the speedo (rather than the road).

Having no speed readout for the last usable 100km of every tank is a pain (albeit a bit of a 1st world problem).
 
#7 ·
There has been a number of comments in other MINI forums about running the fuel tank down to empty before refilling is contributing to the failure rate of the high pressure fuel pump. Perhaps you could eliminate your issue by filling up once you get down to a quarter tank?
 
#9 · (Edited)
We try to not run it low but the wife has already run out of fuel once... Seems the guage is hardly visible to her as it is hidden by her hand on the steering wheel And she claims to have missed the low fuel warnings.

So I got in it last night (sorry, R53) and thought wow that fuel guage looks low so I flicked through the readouts and its telling me we have 39km left to emtpy but no low fuel warnings of any sort? I guess I have to go a bit easier on her now as it's sort of proving her right.

EDIT: No I take it back, the R53 does have a low fuel warning, the lowest point of the gauge turns red to match the over rev section of the tacho (our tacho is in the centre of the dash due to regulatory reasons). Not knowing the car there is no way I would have known this was a low fuel warning. No beeps, no flashing stuff, just a small red light light that is already part of the fuel gauge.

Looks like they over compensated in the newer models!!
 
#11 ·
I drove the car this morning and it has happened again. (Well duh, you have to put fuel in it)

Still two bars left on the fuel gauge, and 110km DTE.

I realise that it's a simple issue (refill with fuel earlier) but it is surprisingly irritating - coming on with just over a quarter left, and disabling the speedo.

I dropped it off for a service and have asked the dealer if it's possible to improve the situation somehow...
 
#12 ·
Fuel warning distance and other settings.



For what it would cost you if you were to get your dealer to change these settings, you can buy "Carly for BMW" and the required OBD unit. I bought this set when I had to change my battery. It saved me a small fortune and allowed me to make adjustments to many of the cars parameter. It supports all the mini and BMW models.
 
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