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fuel sender problems
Posted: Sat May 08, 2004 8:08 pm
by Miggs
well i got a full tank but the gauge is on empty anyone got any tips???
Posted: Sat May 08, 2004 11:28 pm
by abm914
Check your feeds to the sender & the gauge, both live & earth. Also have you checked that there is actually petrol in the tank. We wouldn't want you to have to put new plugs in, take them out, put the old plugs back in, take them out, rebuild your carbs, twice, or anything like that just because you forgot to put petrol in the tank.
Ad.
Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 11:41 am
by Miggs
Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 12:10 pm
by 912uk
te he I am the other way round it shows a full tank and I have er none...OK Mr RAC man nice to see you again ....I will a gallon of my Ususal.....ops
I have a new sender and I will be checking the feeds
Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 5:17 pm
by 69Olive
Miggs
If it's not the electrical connections, it could be the unit itself. I took mine out of my tank recently and dis-assembled it. Basically a float moves up and down 2 very thin wires. My float moved very erratically and got stuck in one position several times.
I stuck the tube in a pint mug filled with diluted POR 15 Marine Clean. This is excellent at getting rid of sticky residue. The liquid promptly turned dark brown. After inverting it and leaving it for a while then putting it back together, I was amazed at the difference. Very smooth movement.
It might sound like hassle, but in my opinion, it will only improve the sender.
(edited for spelling!)
Muck
Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 5:38 pm
by Robster
Yep,
I'll second that - mine didn't work so hauled the sender out - it was covered in 30 years of crap - gave it a clean
now works fine..
best regards
Robster
Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 7:38 pm
by 912uk
I will say that miggs one does seam to have an odd fault. Swap over the other sender unit in the other car as our phone call and see if this helps.. if not you can borrow mind and see if that is any good I will bring it to Woodstock.
Mark
Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 4:47 pm
by timster
Having similar problem with my sender - definately works as when taken out of the tank and moved around with ignition on (watch for sparks lads) the gauge moves accordingly. Which is great. But a soon as it goes back in the tank then it just sticks againat whatever amount of fuel happened to be in the tank at the time.
Reckon a good old clean would do the trick but what do I use to clean it without contaminating the fuel? What's POR 15 Marine Clean and where can I buy a pint of it? Robster - what did you use? Would SPAR vodka work?
cheers,
timster
Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 10:28 pm
by Ian Gunney
After two years of having a non functioning gauge, swapped it for a spare 914 one and hey presto everything works! Felt a bit of a prat for not checking if they were the same before!
Have plenty of 914 senders in the shed if anyone needs one
Ian
Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 10:00 am
by timster
Cheers Ian - Will try the cleaning option first but tempted by an ex-914 jobby if that fails.
tim
Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 10:28 am
by 69Olive
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:57 am
by timster
Cheers - got around to sorting this out with some POR 15 thssi weekend - works a treat at cleaning the thing up.
Sender still sticking slightly but seems to be affected by how tight I screw the bolts in at the top of the tank...strange.
Thanks again for advice.
tim
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:35 pm
by 69Olive
Weird! It could be that your sender is touching the bottom of the tank - but that doesn't sound very plausible.
I do know that the new cork gasket I used was about 4 times thicker than the one I replaced.
I still have the odd problem with fuel level readings but I know that is down to the connecter being a bit loose.