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Fuel Gauge Troubles


Davo

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So sat here on the side of the a31 waiting for the aa to rescue me with some more fuel has prompted Me to get the fuel gauge fixed.

 

The current gauge is the original dash from a Sierra. The temp Guate works but the fuel one hasnt as long as Ive had it.

 

I understand they use a sender unit in the tank ?

 

Should I try to fix the existing one or just buy a complete new kit? Any advice please.

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Wow thats some mpg return what engine / carbs are you running? My pinto with r1 carbs seems to make fuel disappear very very quickly lol

 

But in response to your question a little fault finding with a multimeter will answer a lot. It will be the dash, wires or sender. I do have a couple of Sierra clusters in the shed.

Edited by magh
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Get used to using your trip meter instead - reset it every time you fill up and, assuming you know how far you can go one tank, you know when you need to fill up.

 

My gauge works but is more of a comedy item for my passengers; one moment, almost empty, go up a hill and suddenly full up! :)

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I’m fairness your 160 sounds about right.

 

I usually do BOURNEMOUTH to Portsmouth return journey which is about 120 round trip. It would make sense if I’d already done that journey once that I would break down on the return.

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I still have the sierra sender in the tank, but bent and fiddled with the float wire until I got the best out of it, now it reads 3/4 full when it's actually full, but as it drops down below 1/2 it's actually spot on, so when it reads empty, you really need to pray that there's a garage around the corner.

Edited by Big Jim
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I've got sierra gauges and sierra sender, and ever since I put the sender in the correct position I get a pretty good indication of how much is in the tank. I don't know how far I can go on 1 tank full, but at 47 litres it's a fair distance.

Nick

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I got so sick of dodgy fuel gauge readings, this year I designed and had built a custom fuel tank that takes the supplied ETB sender that's matches the ETB gauge, empty is empty full is full. Mix and matching parts is rarely going to give reliable results.

For the 1st time ever I don't carry a fuel can and with 9gal I've got at least 300mile range.

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Thank Long,

As you know Ive become quite familiar with the front of the car but the back is still a mystery. Where about would I be looking for the send kit? I guess once Ive found it Ill find some wires and check for voltage?

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The sender is usually mounted in the tank via a large circular hole on top with a load of screws around the top of it. If you google fuel sender you will get a picture of what your looking for.

 

Fuel senders work on resistance so more fuel in car the higher (or lower in some cases) the resistance, if you find and remove the sender then you can move arm up and down to see which way the resistance goes.

 

You usually have to match gauge with sender which is why they are sold together but if you can find out what resistance the sierra gauge uses for full and empty then you can see if your sender is close enough.

Edited by geordie40
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I’m pretty sure I’ve found it. I’ll attach a pick if I can. Wiring loos very odd though. One wire going to the centre and what looks like a reciprocal connector laid to one side with two wires connected to it. Something doesn’t smell right here. Is this how it’s meant to be?

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