Gas gauge not working

Keith,

Did you get the diagnostics I sent on the other thread?

Joe

More than likely the gauge is the issue, and the cluster is going to have to be replaced.

The way to confirm this is to check the voltage at the gauge when you are filling the tank.

Basically, you should see the voltage drop as the float in the tank comes up.

If it does, then the sender is operating but the gauge which is just a free-floating gauge, and the voltage is what moves it one way or the other.

It should float in the middle of the gauge somewhere when the ignition is off and then when you turn it on, the needle will go to the correct location.

Here is a guide that will help with this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-wiring

I am attaching the testing below which will tell you how to do this except in reverse.

They have you go to the pump and check the operation of the sender.

Take a look at this and let me know what you find. Thanks

Do you mean to put another fuel gauge on the vehicle? Sure, you can do that if the sender and wire are fine, and the gauge is the issue then that will work.

The only thing you need to look for is a free-floating analog type of fuel gauge.

Do you remember when it was working if when you shut the vehicle off that the gauge would hover near the middle of the range? Then when you turn the ignition on it would go to the correct fuel level position?

If it does, then it is a free-floating gauge.

It won't matter if you can't find this as long as it is an analog gauge it should work.

Okay. Yeah, it sounds like a gauge issue so I would think the voltage to the gauge is fine but if you want to check it, you need to monitor the voltage while filling the tank and make sure the voltage slowly drops.

This is going to depend on what gauge you get as you should be able to find one that just needs you to tap into a battery and ground and then the signal wire. Or even one that only needs this single wire like the OEM gauge does.

However, when you do the splicing, here is a video that shows how to solder the wires together. I would not use those but connectors but if you do, get the heat shrinking kind that Ryan talks about in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxA5wczsCVo

Thanks

Take a look at the wiring diagram below. There should be a purple wire so you can do it one of two ways. You can check the voltage or the ohms.

I would suggest doing both but as you can see it says that there are 90 ohms when full and 0 when full.

This means as the tank fills up the voltage should drop. So, it depends on how much fuel is in the tank when you start but as you fill it, you will see the voltage slowly drop. This just proves that the sender is not the issue and that there is an issue between the two points in the gauge.

If the pump does not prime when you jump the relay, then we need to make sure that you are getting 12 volts to the relay. Basically, you should use a known good 12-volt source so check to make sure the relay is getting 12 volts, then jump it. If it doesn't come on, then you have a pump issue or a wiring issue that the 12 volts is not getting to the pump.

However, we need to get a new post started for this issue so that others can find the answers and they won't find a fuel pump issue under this heading.

https://www.2carpros.com/questions/new

Sorry for any inconvenience but let us know about this info on the new post and we will jump on it.

Thanks