E30 Gas gauge question

[Boris3]

I posted this on r3v and figured I'd try here as well. My gas gauge on the 1990 e30 325i has always been off--going from reading full to empty after about 6 gallons in a 16 gallon tank. Both the right and left tank level senders are new. My symptoms are those of the wrong gauge in the cluster: the gauge for the smaller 55 liter tank will read empty on a half full 63 liter tank.

I picked up a used motometer gauge a while back that has the part number 1 373 678 but the part number doesn't match up with any e30 part numbers I've been able to find. Aside from pulling the cluster and installing it I can't tell if this is actually what I need. Any e30 gauge experts here?

Real oem part numbers for the gauge for the bigger e30 tank (in the m20 325i, is, ix,and 1990-92 ic) is: 62-13-1-381-886 or 888 for the Canada/ Europe model

Part number for the gauge for the smaller e30 gas tank:

62-13-1-374-822 or 823, or for the early model m10 engine cars 812 and 813

Part number for the e30 M3 fuel gauge is:

62-13-1-380-867 or 381-483

So the question is what used gauge did I pick up?

[B C]

My 91 325i has a MotoMeter with part number 1 381 886 like realoem shows

I can certainly understand your confusion. Those part numbers show a gauge for an E30. I did see that number reference an e39 525i at one source but its difficult to find a whole lot on those numbers

[straight6pwr]

could possibly be the manufacturer's part number. VDO, motometer, any manufacturer shown? my search turned up the same thing: nada.

i tried to de-code your part number by adding possible main groups and sub groups to give it 11 digits, but no luck there.

one ebay listing has your same unknown part number for sale http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-3-Series-E30-6090001098-Fuel-Gauge-/271901310506?hash=item3f4e94be2a:g:0KQAAOSwrklVfTAV&vxp=mtr

i'm sure you don't like wasting time as much as the next guy, but pulling the cluster and swapping the gauges takes less than an hour.

[Boris3]

Thanks. I had been playing with the numbers as well and actually contacted that eBay seller to see what car they had pulled it out of. No such luck, it's a third party seller and they didn't know.

Spot on with the ease of swapping the gauge. But this is on the track car which is in storage with a full tank... so it'll take a while plus a session to burn up enough gas to see if the swapped gauge is what I needed. Still that may be what I'll end up doing.

[straight6pwr]

1 hour ago, Boris3 said:

Thanks. I had been playing with the numbers as well and actually contacted that eBay seller to see what car they had pulled it out of. No such luck, it's a third party seller and they didn't know.

Spot on with the ease of swapping the gauge. But this is on the track car which is in storage with a full tank... so it'll take a while plus a session to burn up enough gas to see if the swapped gauge is what I needed. Still that may be what I'll end up doing.

a pair of 5 gallon buckets and a siphon and you could check it in a garage.

[Boris3]

Funny that you should mention that. I do happen to have two 5 gallon race jugs and a siphon pump. Thanks for the suggestion.