When I first bought my CDT from a dealer near Manchester, there was, unsurprisingly, very little fuel in it, in fact the light came on before I reached a filling station. I put £30 in to get me home, and to work the following day (it was not a cheap place). After work, I went to the local supermarket to brim- fill it with cheap fuel, so I could start my brim- to brim mileage calculation, knowing I should get around £50, based on my mileage so far. At £36, the pump shut off, which seemed baffling, as the gauge had been well into the bottom quarter when I started filling. Then I became aware that diesel was running out from under my car! I told the attendants, and moved my car away from the pumps, and they scattered sand and closed that row while they cleaned up, by which time my car had reduced leaking to a few drips. I drove to a nearby garage, to ask them to check it out. They took a quick look underneath, and confirmed it was no longer dripping. I drove gently home, aware that I could slosh diesel onto the road at every bend or change in velocity. On this site, I found out that a badly fitted ITP or sender was the most likely culprit. Sure enough, the foam rubber gasket had been part -pushed into the tank, and creased by whoever had fitted the new ITP. The dealer told me the previous owner had fitted a new pump, and that his son was a mechanic. This was the first of several ham-fisted mechanicing jobs I discovered on the car - mostly broken trim clips. Anyway, running the car until the fuel light comes on has given me a maximum fill of £52. The gauge then reads a gnats over half full, consistently. I suspect the sender float is bent, or incorrectly fitted, but it doesn't leak, and I am reassured to know that I would have to ignore the light, probably for 100miles, before the car would stop.
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