About 6 months ago I had a guy replace my fuel pump cause it went up. Not long after that I started having problems with the gas gauge it would be full or empty or even where it was suppose to be. It seemed like it had a mind of its own. But about 2 months ago it doesn't really work, not some thing that you count on. If i start the car it goes to full right away. Then if i get going down the road the gauge stays at full but if i stop at a light for any amount of time it drops to empty. If I go out and Start the car and it just sits the gauge drops to empty. I'm not sure if the problem is in the gauge or in the tank. In about 2 weeks I'm putting a suspension on my bird and putting a new rear in and if the problem is in the tank id like to find out what it is so i can fix it when i have everything apart. Any ideas????
fuel guage
Brian B
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DOH! I had it set wrong!
let me start by saying that I'm not here just looking for the answer and that I'm not going to just go out and start buying parts and replacing them to fix the problem. Like i said the problem isn't the cluster yes i bought a used cluster but it was tested in two different cars. (didn't work right in my car and worked correctly in the other) My intentions with this post is to find out where to start and what i can check to fix the problem. I don't plan on fixing the problem right at this moment because the first weekend of April I'm replacing everything in the rear of the car (rear, rear control arms, sway bar, Coil-overs, pan hard rod, and the exhaust) the only thing that I'm not changing is the fuel tank or the fuel pump. the pump isn't that old. when i have everything out of the car I'm going to drop the tank and mack sure that the pump is in stalled correctly cause I'm not the one that installed it. I stopped and got some info on the pump that was installed and the way that it was explained to me is that there may be dirt or one of the wires that connects by the float may be damaged. went i get a chance to get up under the car hope full it will be next weekend when i replace the front suspension ( A-arms, Upper A-arms, coil-overs, shock braces and sway bar) I'm going to check the wiring and let everyone know what i find out. I had planned on doing it all this weekend but my A-arms didn't show up until today.
Ok guys, so i put my front suspension on this weekend. when i did i had my dad test the wires to the sending unit. im not one to know a whole lot about testing things and stuff. so what i did was i printed out the post and gave it to my dad. we unhooked the battery and lifted the car and unplugged the top plug and he tested the green wire and the black an nothing happend there wasnt any type of resistance at all he also said that he tested the other ground and got nothing. after he said that he didnt get anything i asked him if he had it set right and he said yeah and we did it agian. with me holding the test to show me that it didnt change so, could that mean that the sending unit is bad?????
If you have any doubt about whether you are using the ohmmeter correctly do this:
1) Short the two meter lead tips together. The meter should read 0-1 Ohms.
2) Measure the resistor in your ignition key connected to the two silver tabs on the sides. It should read 400-12000 Ohms (0.4-12 kOhms if you are on a kOhms range). The exact value depends on the version key you have.
1) Short the two meter lead tips together. The meter should read 0-1 Ohms.
2) Measure the resistor in your ignition key connected to the two silver tabs on the sides. It should read 400-12000 Ohms (0.4-12 kOhms if you are on a kOhms range). The exact value depends on the version key you have.
i have the tester in my hand and setting it on the different setting to see what each one does and what they did. when we tested the plug we toke the two prongs and toched the ends and the meter read 00.0 when we tested the plug it would read 0.L so im guessing that means zero load. thats what the meter said when every thing was tested. i Just talked to my dad and he said that he tested the plug 4 different ways. one from green to black, black to green, and i think black to somthing else and back. I hope this helps.
1) When the meter reads "O.L", it literally means Overload; but actually just means the reading is higher than the meter can display. In this case it means an open circuit (infinite Ohms).
2) Your instructions (see below) were to measure from the purple wire to the black/white wire, And also from the chassis ground to the black-white wire. The green wire goes to the fuel tank pressure sensor, which is of no interest here.
From a prior post: ".... You can see that there are 2 wires (purple and black/white) for the fuel level sensor. Both go to the PCM. If you want to test it you can use an multimeter/ohmmeter to check between the two wires. I am not sure what value to expect but I suspect it is the same range of 0-90 ohms as in earlier years. To check the ground wire, use the same meter to measure from the black/white wire to chassis ground. It should read close to zero ohms (less than 1 ohm).... "
I just went out and tested the fuel sensor and I dont know what to think. when I started I test the meter itself. set it on ohms and it said OL, then i tested it with the two prongs. I put the two togther and it said 00.0 So then I put the red plug on the purple wire and the black plug on the black/white wire and the meter said OL. so then I put the red plug on the black/white wire and the black plug on the on the chassis ground and got the same thing OL. I did the test twice just to make sure and I also did it once with the battery connected and once with it disconnected. So now im at a lost. Not sure what else I can do.
Ok, you did it perfectly. What you have found is that there is an open circuit in either the wiring to the sensor or in the sensor itself. It is much more likely to be a defective sensor. Now you can decide how and whether to replace it.
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The level float sensor is in the fuel tank, riveted to the frame that supports the fuel pump. The entire assembly - frame, pump, sensor - is called the fuel sending unit. Try a search. I've posted a drawing of the sending unit in the past, copied from the factory manual
hey everyone finally got my gas gauge working right. i bought a new fuel pump off amazon.com paid about $250 for it. when i toke the old one out i had problems getting it out the pump was bigger then the hole but once i got it out and got looking at it the fuel level senor where the floats arm makes contact with the senor it wasnt even touching. the pump that came out was only about a year or two old but i didnt put it on so im thinking that since it didnt fit that the guy that put it on forced it in the hole but anyway its working now been driveing it for bout three days now and every hting seems to be ok thanks for the help. oh and if anyone runs in to this problem i found when looking around to replace the fuel level senor that they do have them out there and there only about $100 bucks. only reason i didnt buy the senor was i wasnt sure if it came off the pump that i had in the car. well thanks for all the help.
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