Fuel gauge problem

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Fuel gauge problem

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All Messages in Thread	Author	Date
Fuel gauge problem	Neil	11-5-01
According to my fuel gauge, I either have a full tank or an empty tank by simply touching the back of the fuel gauge indicator. Neither is correct. Any ideas.
Re: Fuel gauge problem	Kent	11-5-01
According to my fuel gauge, I either have a full tank or an empty tank by simply touching the back of the fuel gauge indicator. Neither is correct. Any ideas. Neil, If you disconnect the three wire harness going to the fuel tank and set your VOM on ohms and test for continuity, (on the tank side of the harness connector), between the red, (fuel pump +) and black(ground) wires, you should get a complete circuit indication. Likewise, if you check for a complete circuit between the black(ground)wire and the yellow(gauge)wire, you should show a complete circuit. Going to the vehicle side of the connector, and setting your VOM to low(15) DC volt scale and , with key "on", checking between red and black wires, you won't get any reading. That's because the computer turns the ground to the fuel pump relay "off" if it senses that the engine isn't running(safety feature). If you're using a digital VOM( the "spiffy" one with a readout screen), then you may have trouble checking for current on the yellow wire as it is a pulsating(on-off-on-off-)current, something that these meters don't respond to very well. The use of an analog(dial type) meter works best for this test of pulsating current. Even a 12 volt test light is OK, it will just be dimmer. I prefer an analog meter for this, because you do want to check for voltage drop.. Here's what you do, turn the key "on", ground the analog meter "minus" lead,check with the meter's "plus" lead from both of theconnections on the back of the meter, read the high number on the needle's swings. Go down to the harness connector's vehicle side(key "on") and "read" between the yellow and black wires, you should get the same volt reading that you got at the gauge. Tug and twist on the wiring while you watch the meter, shouldn't be any difference in reads if there's no fault in the wiring. Come back with what you find.
Re: Fuel gauge problem	Neil	11-8-01
Kent-I think I have a different set-up than your desciption. For the first time I got into the instrument cluster. What I found was the gas gauge(the visible part)has on the back 3 pin plugs in a 6,9,and 12 clock positions that plug into 3 clips mounted into the cluster. Behind the dash is a small circuit board that obviously controls the fuel gauge-there are no wires going to this circuit board. I tried checking the board by testing the 3 clips on the dash side-I got a 3 or 4 volt reading on the bottom (6 o'clock clip) but no reading on the other 2 clips. Am I on the right track? I did find the circuit board was loose which I think was causing the empty to full changes. I tighted the screw that was holding the circuit board to the cluster-this eliminated the swings in the gauge and now records just above empty. Where am I now? According to my fuel gauge, I either have a full tank or an empty tank by simply touching the back of the fuel gauge indicator. Neither is correct. Any ideas. Neil, If you disconnect the three wire harness going to the fuel tank and set your VOM on ohms and test for continuity, (on the tank side of the harness connector), between the red, (fuel pump +) and black(ground) wires, you should get a complete circuit indication. Likewise, if you check for a complete circuit between the black(ground)wire and the yellow(gauge)wire, you should show a complete circuit. Going to the vehicle side of the connector, and setting your VOM to low(15) DC volt scale and , with key "on", checking between red and black wires, you won't get any reading. That's because the computer turns the ground to the fuel pump relay "off" if it senses that the engine isn't running(safety feature). If you're using a digital VOM( the "spiffy" one with a readout screen), then you may have trouble checking for current on the yellow wire as it is a pulsating(on-off-on-off-)current, something that these meters don't respond to very well. The use of an analog(dial type) meter works best for this test of pulsating current. Even a 12 volt test light is OK, it will just be dimmer. I prefer an analog meter for this, because you do want to check for voltage drop.. Here's what you do, turn the key "on", ground the analog meter "minus" lead,check with the meter's "plus" lead from both of theconnections on the back of the meter, read the high number on the needle's swings. Go down to the harness connector's vehicle side(key "on") and "read" between the yellow and black wires, you should get the same volt reading that you got at the gauge. Tug and twist on the wiring while you watch the meter, shouldn't be any difference in reads if there's no fault in the wiring. Come back with what you find.