Joe_L

Well I got home from University, and I haven't started my car in a month. Well I start it up and I noticed the gas gauge is not working.

So I try a few things, I add $10 worth of gas hoping the float might be sticking, and it might jar it... well that didn't work, so then I tried to sway the car hoping the gas would jar the float, but that didn't work either.

I have had this problem before and usually a quick jar would free it up. But this time it seems to be stuck or broke, whats a good place to start, what would you guys look at?

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1987 Firebird
2.8L Auto
T-Tops
New Paint last Fall
No mods yet...

CaliCamaroRS

It's not working or it's just not going down even after using fuel?

I've seen a fuel tank in which the baffle came loose and the float got stuck on it. It read 1/2 full and we drop the tank and it was empty.

Or it could be a bad connection on the float.....which would require you to replace the whole fuel pump sending unit.



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-Dan
-1990 3.1L RS
-Mods? no
-Slow? yes
-*Slowly* collecting parts for T5 swap

Joe_L

Sorry about that I forgot to include it reads HARD empty.

TomP

Hm... how do the GM gas gauges work again? Isn't it if the sensor reads 90 ohms that the tank shows full, and if the sensor shows 0 ohms, the tank shows empty?

If that's right, if the stainless steel "wiper" wire in the sender breaks, or if the wire between the tank and gauge breaks, you get an "open" in the circuit- which translates to "infinite" infinity... which pegs your needle at "full".

If the wire shorts out to ground, you get a short, which is 0 ohms, which puts the needle at empty.

Do the wires look okay down there? I'll see if I can dig up tonight which wire comes off the sender; maybe you can probe it with an ohmmeter at the tank connector to see if the sender reads correctly, but your gauge isn't getting the right signal.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)