[Bricklin] Fuel gauge troubleshooting

[bricklin0095 at aol.com]

After replacing my sender unit a few years ago, it was bouncing a lot and
acting unreliable.. I ended up with the guage reading empty even when full..
It turned out that when I transfered the old float to the new sender it got a
tiny pinhole in it..
I soldered it up and now it works better.. It does not read like a newer car
though... Stays full a long while and quarter tank means empty.. but it is
better than when I started.



-----Original Message-----
From: isensee at aol.com
To: bricklin at autox.team.net
Sent: Mon, Apr 19, 2010 8:21 am
Subject: Re: [Bricklin] Fuel gauge troubleshooting




 Thanks, George. Yes, I did try running a fresh ground wire to the sender. No
luck.




 I found some troubleshooting info on the web that said, if you ground the
input lead on the gauge and the gauge swings to reading full them the gauge is
good. It said, if the gauge fails, it either fails short or open so being able
to get both an empty and a full reading on it means it is working. The fact I
can't get it to respond anywhere in between even hooking an old sender unit up
directly to the gauge though makes me wonder though.

Scott



-----Original Message-----
From: George Malaska <gmalaska at hotmail.com>
To: bricklin at autox.team.net; isensee at aol.com
Sent: Sun, Apr 18, 2010 8:49 pm
Subject: Re: [Bricklin] Fuel gauge troubleshooting


Scott, have you checked the ground on your sending unit? Clean it where it
goes to the frame. Sometimes even this is not enough. Try running a ground
from the battery direct or at least from another spot on the frame. I have
found this to be the problem on a few cars. I have even gone so far as to
install another ground from the pipe on the sending unit to the frame. I use
a
mini clamp to secure the wire to the pipe and then find a clean spot on the
frame for the other end. Hope this helps.
George.
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: isensee at aol.com<mailto:isensee at aol.com>
  To: bricklin at autox.team.net<mailto:bricklin at autox.team.net>
  Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 6:02 PM
  Subject: [Bricklin] Fuel gauge troubleshooting


  For several years, the fuel gauge on my '75 Bricklin read incorrectly. It
  would read about 1/2 tank when the tank was full and go to empty long
before
  the tank was empty. At random points in between, it would drop to empty but
  then come back up again. Recently, the gauge started reading empty all the
  time. This seemed like classic signs of a bad sender unit so I replaced
that.
  Unfortunately, that hasn't fixed the problem, the gauge still reads empty
all
  the time.

  So, to troubleshoot this, I pulled off the connector at the back of the
gauge.
  The gauge then went to full. When I jumper this connector on the back of
the
  gauge to ground, it goes to empty. Putting a variable resister from the
gauge
  to ground, it always reads empty. So it seems like the gauge is not
responding
  to resistance as it should. Does this indicate a problem with the gauge?
Any
  suggestions what else the problem may be and how to troubleshoot it any
more?

  Scott
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