I had the contact slider pull away, just a little bend and it was back on track. I also saw one whos contact was rotted off, probably empty for decades with moisture ingress. Could you solder than one back together?
If the wire fails I don't feel comfortable soldering them.
For what one costs it's worth changing out for a new one.
Here's how I go about putting a new one in.
I disconnect the old sender and hook the new one up to the wire and ground the hanging sender.
Then I check the gauge to make sure that when the sender float is all the way down, that the gauge is also.
Then I pull the old one and lightly install the new one with only the wire connected up.
I put a gallon of gas back in the tank and pull the sender to bend the float arm and test again until the gauge just barely moves off empty.
Now I put the sender back for the last time with the feed and return lines all hooked back up.
This way I know when the gauge hits empty I have about one gallon left.
