Jump to content

Fuel gauge


ChrisM

Recommended Posts

Hey everyone, hope your summers were as good as mine, getting as much driving in as possible.

Its come that time for me here in ontario to finally put my car away for its first winter as a complete car. Two questions. What do the people here do when storing their cars for winter in a garage that will just as cold as outside? 

Next, actual question for this thread, while working on getting my car running at the beginning of the year, I always put 15-20 dollars of gas in the tank via Jerry can. Now that would usually give me about 1/4 of a tank, and as I ran the car doing testing etc. It would always run down to empty. The first time I put the car on the road, i went and filled up at the gas station, noticed after I filled up, the gas gauge wouldn't move from just below half. And now not matter how low I run the tank, it is stuck just below half, anyone have any tips? I have drivin the car for 2 months, I dont think I have a stuck float, it's a new sender and gas tank, american autowire complete rewire on the car, gas gauge is the only thing origanal, let me know what you guys think, thanks, chris 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like to fill my seasonal stuff up before winter with high octane ethanol-free gas, most of our gas stations have ethanol-free 91 for boats and snowmobiles.  I put Seafoam into the tank as well.  Full or empty tank is a preference thing, but I see it as a nearly empty tank has room for moisture to collect.  With my motorcycle I'll run it for a bit, turn off the fuel supply, and let it run dry to keep it from gunking up in the carbs.

 

For the fuel gauge, I would try removing the sensor wire to see if it goes to full, then try grounding it out instead of going to the tank to see if it goes to 0/empty.  This tells you if it's the gauge or the wiring/float.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info blackhawk, I added fuel stabilizer to a full tank, and put it up on jack stands, I guess I'll find out in the spring if I did enough haha.

 

So if I were to disconnect the tan wire from the sender and ground it, I should see the fuel gauge go to full? If all this happens I guess I can safely say I've got to drop the tank and see what's going on correct? Thank you 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good link, with good info, one more question, I have read different things about this, but is there supposed to be a 90 ohms resistor on the back of our fuel gauges? I can only find things on chevelles, and some people say yes others say no, any idea if we are supposed to have one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to this post we do have a resistor:

https://www.chevelles.com/forums/27-electrical-wiring/902970-fuel-gauge-wont-go-past-1-4-tank-solved.html

 

Another thing to check would be to unhook the sender wire at the rear bumper and test the resistance of the sender itself with a known level of fuel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Blackhawk thanks, soon as spring hits I'll be back at it! 

Thanks realred70, time to start looking for one haha, I am 99% sure mine is not there when I was trying to test it this summer. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Be careful where you place the jack stands. They must be under the front and rear suspension. In my younger days (yes, that long ago...lol) I put the car up on stands on the four corners of the frame (behind the front tires and in front of the rear tires) and the body literally flexed to the point where the door gaps changed. Once down on all fours it went back to normal but the damage was already done....I got a crack in the bondo of the rear quarter panel where some rust repair had been done. Now I have a second set of baloney tires that I put on it for the winter and leave it on the ground.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks monteman1971. It's up and on the suspension, added a fuel stabilizer with the last fill up, I'll see how she starts next year!.

 

Still on the hunt for a resistor, hopfully I can get some time where it's not to cold and start testing when I find a new one! Thanks everyone! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...