You could try disconnecting thectitlectravkthe sender and shorting it to body (I think that's right) and see what your gauge says then. It should read full I think. Best check with a meter first as I'm not familiar with this area.
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Fuel Gauge, or not it seems
- Thread starter clivehorridge
- Start date
I will do that Rich, but it's exasperating because to do that, the rear seat has to come out, and the carpet, and then the cover-plate in the floor, then get at the terminals, do the test, then put it all back (as it's my daily drive) even if the unit is dead.
Call me lazy, I won't argue with that, but I'd prefer to buy a sender do the job, wash up and forget it.
Life isn't that simple, I know
Yes I see. I would probably feel the same TBH. If it has resurrected itself with all that shaking, I doubt it's a loose wire. I'm 90% certain its your sender for whatever reason and it's probably not that it's stuck either.
That's where my mind is set Rich, so I'll source a replacement sender unit and hope for the best.
My other problem is the electrics on the truck in general. Years ago, I had a burn-out from front to back, well I think it was from the back to the front, but that makes no difference when you see melted looms. It actually caught fire in the rear quarter of the truck behind the plastic interior panels.
Since then, I've had wiring "repairs" done all over the place, and short of replacing the whole set of harnesses (nightmare) whenever anything fails (such as this gauge) I'm thinking its a melted insulation somewhere behind the dash.
Inevitably, and with no acumen for lectrics whatsoever, I've lost all trust in anything electrical on my truck. It's a damn shame.
Anyway, we plod on with this in mind, slowly I've managed to get (almost) everything working as it should, but the trust has gone.
As an example, I had a strange phenomenon with the door switches and interior lights. Only the passenger front door operated the front light and only the driver's side rear door operated the rear light. I checked the switches and they all worked fine on a meter. Also, the warning tone (telling you the lights are on when the ignition is off) stopped working.
Needless to say, I gave up.
At the last visit to the body repair shop, a guy there said he'd try to fix it, and in all fairness he did. Ureka! Open the door, the light comes on, all doors, all interior lights, yippee! And the warning tone now works, so I won't be leaving my lights on by mistake, again.
But, and there always seems to be a "but" when all the doors are closed, there's a tiny leak somewhere, showing the front interior roof light (the middle one of the three) with a faint glow. You can only see it in the dark, but there's a drain there for sure. I have no idea how to investigate that or what to do about it. So that light is switched off manually now, I only use it manually when needed.
The joys of an old truck, it seems, don't we just love 'em?
Michael Montgomery
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear your troubles of frustration Clive.......these little yet annoying issues do plague on our minds & our focus on them to be corrected an way us down somethings.
I understand fully where you coming from.
Only decovered recently after putting the car back together the retractable side mirrors stopped working.... then soon after the mirror itself stopped tilting so another job beckons to get it right. Wear & tear for 23 year old truck I guess.
There's always a opportunity to find a easy way to get things things right just need peraverious a lot of beer
I understand fully where you coming from.
Only decovered recently after putting the car back together the retractable side mirrors stopped working.... then soon after the mirror itself stopped tilting so another job beckons to get it right. Wear & tear for 23 year old truck I guess.
There's always a opportunity to find a easy way to get things things right just need peraverious a lot of beer
First easy thing to try Clive, take each door switch out and let it hang in the dark and see if the lamp goes out.
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That would suggest you suspect that one or more of the switches is leaking to earth when it should be "open" or "off" which ever is the appropriate electrical term.
I can try that, it's as simple as 2 screws, even I can manage that!
If the dimly glowing light goes out with one of them hanging, then I should clean it inside or replace it.
I forgot to add the other clue, where the dash panel "door open" warning light also glows dimly with all doors closed, then goes bright with any door open.
After closing the doors it's showing very dimly, but then goes out when the ignition is switched on.
Very confusing to a bumble-head.
I did try to reply Clive when you said the gauge came back to life and then died again. It seems Crispin is on top of things at the moment and I can post again. You mentioned you had read my LC 80 thread on MUD? IIRC mine did exactly the same thing, worked for a short while after brimming, and then failed a short while later.
When you decide to do the job, apart from having your tools ready, get your self a few feet of clear tubing, the tubing ID about 10mm is about right and a bucket. When you get the sender out you will see it sits in what looks like a small bucket. This helps with surge etc. First check it is still fixed to the bottom of the tank, they have been known to break free and interfere with the float/sender movement. The 'bucket' also can trap dirt and other odds and ends, if you put the tube to the bottom of the bucket and start a syphon, you can 'hoover' out the rubbish into the bucket on the floor outside the car. If you have ever kept fish or cleaned a swimming pool you will know what I am talking about, good luck.
regards
Dave
When you decide to do the job, apart from having your tools ready, get your self a few feet of clear tubing, the tubing ID about 10mm is about right and a bucket. When you get the sender out you will see it sits in what looks like a small bucket. This helps with surge etc. First check it is still fixed to the bottom of the tank, they have been known to break free and interfere with the float/sender movement. The 'bucket' also can trap dirt and other odds and ends, if you put the tube to the bottom of the bucket and start a syphon, you can 'hoover' out the rubbish into the bucket on the floor outside the car. If you have ever kept fish or cleaned a swimming pool you will know what I am talking about, good luck.
regards
Dave
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- Feb 2, 2013
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Sorry to mention something you probably can't get out there Clive but i do wonder if the simple solution would be to swap the sender for something like this http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Produ...Sender Units&gclid=CM2tne6coc8CFceVGwodWeIF3g
Nice find Shayne, might be the get go for people who add an extra tank? IIRC it is a lot cheaper than the OE version as well, but not cheap enough to warrant the install IMHO.
It takes less than twenty minutes to replace the OE unit.
regards
Dave
It takes less than twenty minutes to replace the OE unit.
regards
Dave
I'm a bit late catching up on these 2 posts Dave & Shayne, sorry....
Good advice Dave, but I did have the sender out last year to check the filter (as you do) and it was spotless in there. Took me by surprise TBH after 380 odd k km.
I shone a torch in and saw the bucket and it was clean.
I will check again in case its become dislodged though, there's no avoiding pulling the seat and carpet out, however lazy I am!!
An interesting alternative Shayne, I'll bear that in mind.
Cheers both, I'll get to it eventually, its just a bit too low on the priority list at the mo, got a central heating unit and all the gubbins to buy and install for the house extension first
Good advice Dave, but I did have the sender out last year to check the filter (as you do) and it was spotless in there. Took me by surprise TBH after 380 odd k km.
I shone a torch in and saw the bucket and it was clean.
I will check again in case its become dislodged though, there's no avoiding pulling the seat and carpet out, however lazy I am!!
An interesting alternative Shayne, I'll bear that in mind.
Cheers both, I'll get to it eventually, its just a bit too low on the priority list at the mo, got a central heating unit and all the gubbins to buy and install for the house extension first
Does your 'low fuel' light work Clive? FWIW and IIRC it is on a different circuit from the level sender? The low fuel light sensor is on the end of a fixed length rod. I spent some time calibrating the fuel level sensor to the gauge but, the low fuel light as mentioned is fixed, this means you should still get the light?
Might give you some comfort? I cannot remember the exact amount of fuel needed to keep the light out, but it was in the thread, perhaps 2.0 gallons? IIRC I have done around (steady) 25 miles with the light on after a blonde moment and left it too late to get to the garage before it closed?
regards
Dave
Might give you some comfort? I cannot remember the exact amount of fuel needed to keep the light out, but it was in the thread, perhaps 2.0 gallons? IIRC I have done around (steady) 25 miles with the light on after a blonde moment and left it too late to get to the garage before it closed?
regards
Dave
I had the same thought the other day Dave. They are separately wired. Assuming it's sender not wiring then the light should work.
I messed up the low fuel light, trying to be clever. My guy (helper because I hate anything to do with electrickery and I'm lazy) replaced all my dash and switch illumination with LEDs.
Afterwards, the low fuel warning light was glowing very dimly all the time, and even when very low on fuel, it does not come bright. So now I don't know whether this is due to the LED replacement bulb, or the faulty sensor
.Previously, when all was working as is should, the low light used to come on with about 30km left in the tank (ask me how I know when I tried to get 31km out of it
).I still haven't got around to looking at this. Apart from being lazy, my weekly average is around 400km and that fits so nicely with a weekly fill to brim with plenty of kms to spare, so running with one eye on the odo trip (got in the habit of re-setting at every fill) I don't really have a problem.
However, I am a stickler for everything to be working on my truck, so it is one thing I need to sort out.
On the subject of LED warning light bulb replacements, the rear fog, the main beam, and the headlight washer switch warnings flicker randomly, which is driving me a bit crazy, so my helper will have another job soon, converting them back to filament bulbs, along with the low fuel warning light.
All the joys of running an old truck
Love 'em
