On Tue, 30 Jul 1996 donmathis@lucent.com wrote:
> Speaking of fuel gauges, mine says full when it is and half full when it is
> down to about empty. What would cause that?
> Don Mathis, Ph.D.
Check two things.
1. A voltage stablizer controls the actual voltage that the electric gauges
receive. When the voltage stablizer is bad, it can result in no voltage at
all (no reading on the gauge) or a false high reading. The reason for a
voltage stablizer is that when the car is running the system voltage can vary
from 11.5 to almost 16 volts. The fuel gauge is calibrated to read full at
about 10 volts. All this from memory, so figures are aproximate.
2. The sending unit could be sticky. When the cars are stored with a
partial tank of gas, the windings on the sender rust. A full tank of gas
forces the float to rise, and the gauge reads full, but as the fuel is used,
the weight of the float isn't enough to overcome the friction. So the float
is hanging in mid air in the fuel tank until you hit enough bumps to unstick
the float. SOLUTION: remove sender from tank, open the unit carefully, spray
with WD-40, work the sender over its full range of motion until it moves
freely, and reassemble.
OR: Listen for your fuel pump to start clicking frantically, and hope there
is enough gas in your float bowls to get you to the next gas station :)
David Riker
69 MG Midget
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