Troubleshooting fuel sender/gauge

[Quickstep192]

My fuel tank is half full.

The gauge shows 1/4 tank on the gauge after installing a new Dansk sender. Sometimes the gauge shows below 1/4 tank and sometimes it shows 1/2 tank, bit that’s kind of rare.

It sure seems like it’s the sender, but I had a similar problem with the previous sender (that’s why I replaced the sender)

How can I troubleshoot this?

Pulling the sender and farting around with it over the opening to a half full tank doesn’t seem like the best idea but I don’t know where else to begin.

Could it be the gauge?

Is there a sender that’s better than the Dansk, but not as pricey as the genuine Porsche part?

Thanks for any help.

[SpyderMike]

Not sure if this will help, but I would pull it out and inspect it:

Getting to know the fuel gauge sender

[Quickstep192]

I pulled the sender and I can hear the float moving up and down when I tilt the sender, but I haven’t tried that with the sender connected.

[PeteKz]

After screwing around disassembling and cleaning the original sender (with some success) I bought the Dansk sender a couple years ago. It works fine.

[jbell959]

It's easy to test the gauge and wiring. Disconnect the sender wire at the sender and turn the key on. Your fuel gauge should be sitting at or below empty. Then touch that wire to ground (the surrounding metal on the sender should be grounded) and the fuel gauge should go to full.