Fuel Gauge is Fluctuating Badly?
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=31598
Printed Date: November-17-2024 at 11:46pm
Topic: Fuel Gauge is Fluctuating Badly?
Posted By: Steve_SN2001
Subject: Fuel Gauge is Fluctuating Badly?
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 12:05am
| 1987 SN2001, When I fill up the tank the gauge reads full like it should, after a couple pulls and the gas level starts to go down the gauge starts acting nuts. It just goes up and down through the whole range of the gauge sporadically and never stops moving even if the boat is sitting still at the dock. Thoughts??? The gauge? Sending Unit in the tank? |
Replies:
Posted By: Hollywood
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 2:02am
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It's definitely the sending unit. Start by removing the wires and cleaning up the connections. It might get better but really the float is probably not as bouyant as it use to be. ------------- |
Posted By: Steve_SN2001
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 8:53am
| Thanks! Now I wonder if I can fanangle it out of there without removing the gas tank since it's pretty much full and it's already winterized.... |
Posted By: Bri892001
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 1:45pm
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I was able to get mine out on my 93 without removing the tank. You'll have to finesse it a bit, but the old senders are basically a float on a piece of wire coat hanger. The float pretty much takes up the whole diameter of the sender opening, so it's a matter of pulling it out/feeding it back in the right way. They make newer, better quality senders for the money, like mentioned here: http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26697" rel="nofollow - http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26697 I'm thinking you might lose a little installation flexibility with the better quality type, but not sure. |
Posted By: Bri892001
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 1:58pm
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One quick test though: Remove your red/pink wire from the center, and ground it directly onto the metal ring, or touch it/connect it to the same place as your black ground wire. If the gauge pegs steady to full, with no fluctuation, that's a pretty sure sign your sender is the issue. 
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Posted By: Hollywood
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 5:38pm
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Better yet remove the black since you dot need tools and tap it on the pink wire post. Or even better YET cross them with a screw driver. ------------- |
Posted By: Steve_SN2001
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 7:44pm
| The problem with that is the tank is full so it's reading full, that's the only function it does properly. Lol |
Posted By: Steve_SN2001
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 7:48pm
| I saw those beefier sending units on skidim this morning I was hoping one of them would work. Not a big fan of the toilet bowl design.... |
Posted By: chuckactor
Date Posted: September-20-2013 at 8:37pm
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On my old ocean boat the fuel sender was constantly causing issues. I replaced it with a Centroid capacitance sensor. They work great. The only issue is that that don't work with all gauges. http://www.centroidproducts.com/ There are no moving parts. It wires in like the stock sensor (2-wire version). The cool part is that there are two pots on the sensor. You can adjust the full and empty levels. If you want the tank to read empty at a 1/4 tank you can. That way you can fake a reserve. All you have to do is give them the depth of the tank and they will make it any length you want. Mine was bullet proof for years. Chuck %20" rel="nofollow - %20" rel="nofollow - %20" rel="nofollow - |