fuel guage needle is stuck???

[jeff bryant]

after filling up with gas last saturday i noticed that the fuel gauge needle stopped at 2/4 and has not moved/dropped either way since saturday. i've driven around 100 miles since..... all other gauges are working. any ideas? thanks!

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Jeff Bryant
84 Carrera Cab
97 328is

[Rot 911]

Sounds like the sending unit in the tank is stuck. Easy to remove from the tank. Unplug wire. Remove screws. Lift straight out. Clean and reinstall. Should solve the problem.

Kurt V
72 911E

[Joeaksa]

Kurt is right, but be careful with taking the fuel sender out of the tank. If the tank is more than half full, when you pull it out you will spill gas everywhere when you take it out. Withdraw the sender very slowly to allow the gas inside the cylinder to drain, then take it apart once you have it out.

There is a nut on the bottom with a tab holding the nut on the sender. Remove it and then slide the float up and down to clean up the slide and contact wire. You can also use scotchbrite on the thing and it almost always work after you do this.

When installing the sender back in the tank be careful and use a 1/4 inch socket wrench so as to not over tighten the nuts. The sender costs around $80 or so, so you can spend a lot of time getting it to work before throwing in the towel and buying a new one. I have two extras in my stock that I picked up for a song, just in case.

Good luck,

JoeA

[Jim Sims]

When you remove sender ensure that no gasket pieces fall into the tank. Use a new gasket (Pelican Parts No. B-201-891-00) when you reinstall sender.

[jeff bryant]

thanks for the good info guys!

[nhromyak]

I had the exact same thing happen to me on my 73.5 T. It turns out one of the wires broke on the sendor. I ended up adding a bit of copper length, to solder it back on and all was well.

Good Luck.

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Nick Hromyak
'85 Carrera 7 & 9 Fuchs
Havin' Fun in Sacramento

[CraigD]

My guage never went below about 1/3 tank even though I ran out of gas the day I bought the car in August. I agree the scotch bright really works. I just did this exact procedure to my sender last night. After cleaning up the sender the guage was reading closer to a 1/4 tank which was accurate based on mileage and last fill up, but it kept making little erratic movements. I pulled the sender wires from the back of the guage and cleaned up those contacts and now it works perfectly.

Craig

[This message has been edited by CraigD (edited 10-22-2001).]

[ago85carrera]

My gauge works fine above 1/2 but stops at 1/2 until the light comes on. I did similar clean-up to the old sender as described by others in this thread and yet the gauge stops at 1/2. It still does this with a new sender unit.

Any ideas???

Andre

[Joe Bob]

Sounds like the clesn up failed to fix it. Sometimes you just need to replace them......I'm in the process of replacing my SC one.....

BTW, I have a NEW later model sender if anyone needs one.....

[RoninLB]

I use the thicker rubber gasket same as oil tank sender gasker. Either PANO or Stoddard has it as an upgrade.

[Tom '74 911]

Originally Posted by ago85carrera

My gauge works fine above 1/2 but stops at 1/2 until the light comes on. I did similar clean-up to the old sender as described by others in this thread and yet the gauge stops at 1/2. It still does this with a new sender unit.

Any ideas???

Andre

I have the same problem I think. See this thread I started:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=443908

I have not solved it yet, but would love to know if you find a solution! If you've replaced the sender w/a new one, then it must be the wiring somewhere. Maybe a bad ground or short in the gauge?

I haven't tackled the issue beyond removing, cleaning and testing the sending unit - sometime soon, I will start to sort through the wiring and do some investigating. Please post back if you discover what the cause is and I will do the same.
Good Luck,
Tom

[Joe Bob]

My partner in crime Ingo, thinks that some cars are haunted. Mine eats gas tank senders.....

His is just slower than mine...but he'll probably tell you something different....

[ago85carrera]

Originally Posted by Tom '74 911

I have the same problem I think. See this thread I started:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=443908

I have not solved it yet, but would love to know if you find a solution! If you've replaced the sender w/a new one, then it must be the wiring somewhere. Maybe a bad ground or short in the gauge?

I haven't tackled the issue beyond removing, cleaning and testing the sending unit - sometime soon, I will start to sort through the wiring and do some investigating. Please post back if you discover what the cause is and I will do the same.
Good Luck,
Tom

Tom,

Thanks for attaching your other thread. In that thread, Bill in OKC points out the problem that I suspect our cars have. PCA.org Tech Q&A pointed me to Up-Fixin der Porsche Volume V (1977-1980) which has a good write-up and diagram of the sender and gauge circuits. My sender is new so I think it's the gauge. (In fact I now think my old sender is fine to reuse but I dipped the new one in gas so I'm keeping it.)

To quote Up-Fixin, "Some late model 911s have reported fuel gauge abnormalities. The usual symptom is erratic readings below the half-full level... an intermittent short in the gauge itself has caused the problem."

I'll open the gauge and post my findings.

Andre

[notmytarga]

I cleaned my sender and still had the problem of the guage not reading a full sweep.

A few years later I replaced the sender with a brand spanking new one from our host - no real change. One day while driving I pulled the guage at a stoplight and twiddled the leads. It improved the needle position. I did a more thourough contact cleaning parked in the garage at it has been fine since.

Start with cleaning the guage contacts - it's way easy, and often effective.

Anyone need a working used sender??

[mthomas58]

I had problems with my sender too. In my case, the nut and end cap on the bottom of the sender came off and fell into the bottom of the tank. The end cap keeps the float centered in the guide tube....othewise it tends to bind on the side of the tube. When I had the tank out recently to repair a leak, I was able to fish the end cap out (never could get the nut out) and I used a new nylock nut so hopefully it won't come off again.

Couple of pics showing the sender disassembled. Not mine - in the pic the float is broken in half.

[DRACO A5OG]

Sorry to bring this old thread back but I recently had these symptoms and I took the least costly path.

I removed the guage and re-flowed the solders.

All good now , geez I need to go fill up.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

Sounds like the clesn up failed to fix it. Sometimes you just need to replace them......I'm in the process of replacing my SC one.....

BTW, I have a NEW later model sender if anyone needs one.....

I guess I may have to go this route one day too. I've tried to clean mine a few times and still the same problem. Reads full, drops a bit, sticks, repeat. The sender looks spotless.

And next time, I'll pay attention to the dates. :/

[slodave]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

Sorry to bring this old thread back but I recently had these symptoms and I took the least costly path.

I removed the guage and re-flowed the solders.

All good now , geez I need to go fill up.

But since we're on it....

You have to take the bezel off to do this?

[Jdub]

Remove the negative battery cable before performing this exercise!

Good thread - will be doing this shortly.

[bluesky]

What specifically do we Scotchbrite?.... is it the thin wire or the center rod?...or both?