Not ANOTHER malfunctioning fuel sender...

[TylerW]

Hey guys:

I replaced the tank and sender/pickup in my '73 Valiant DD and I'm having an issue:

I had to put about 5 gallons of gas in before the gauge would come up above empty. Yesterday, it was nearly to E, so I put about 5 gallons in which put it at FULL.

Well, since then I've driven less than 30 miles and the gauge has dropped almost a third. Obviously something is wrong here. When I gassed up yesterday it acted like it was physically getting full.

The sender I used was one of those "Spectre" brand things. I noticed it had a plastic float instead of a brass one, which I don't like.

In the event that this thing has to be replaced, is there anybody on the planet that makes a quality piece?

I still have a couple of the brass floats if that might solve it.

Thanks.

 

[KitCarlson]

There are a few ways to approach this problem. I think it is common from other posts. It is possible to remove the sender, ground the housing and test the sender at top and bottom settings with gas gauge. If that works, then the problem is in the float, or float travel in tank. I have read that a camera in the fill hole to view the travel, make adjustments and modification to make it work. I have also been poo pooed that mods are not necessary, so take my advise as a grain of salt.

At my old age, I test everything first, to avoid the stinky, dirty and difficult work a second time. I hate the smell of modern gas.

 

[player1up]

Well, mods may not be necessary, but adjustments are. Mine read 1/8 of a tank when I was pushing it to the gas station.....When I did mine I had to bend the stop tabs on the housing so that it read empty when it was empty.
Basically it was hitting the stop and not letting it go all the way down.

Somewhere on here there is an ohm reading of what it should be at full and empty. Just for sport I made mine read empty a little before it was REALLY empty to give me some reserve

 

[TylerW]

Well, mods may not be necessary, but adjustments are. Mine read 1/8 of a tank when I was pushing it to the gas station.....When I did mine I had to bend the stop tabs on the housing so that it read empty when it was empty.
Basically it was hitting the stop and not letting it go all the way down.

Somewhere on here there is an ohm reading of what it should be at full and empty. Just for sport I made mine read empty a little before it was REALLY empty to give me some reserve

You just may be on to something, I'll give it a try. However, I think it's just plain defective. It dropped 1/2 tank in 50 miles and it's not actually going through that much gas.

At least I carry my back-up gas gauge with me( a bamboo pole) just like they used before gas gauges were introduced.