Fuel Sender Ground?

[Come Monday]

Hey - I've read through the good times that others have had with fuel guage/sender issues.  I'm having the same problem.  My fuel gauge reads above full when the ignition is turned on, though it's not full.  Sometimes it works, but it will only be for an hour or so.  I called my mechanic and he replaced the sender.  It worked for about an hour.  I also had Bennington send me a new sender - it's the same deal.  My mechanic thinks it's a bad ground - I agree.  He's too busy to come over for that so I'm trying to figure it out.


My question is if anyone has bypassed the ground.  The sender has a pink and black wire and I hear the pink goes to the gauge and the black goes to the battery.  Well, as soon as the wires go through the floor - good luck following them.  If I were to cut the ground wire after the sending unit connector and splice in an additional ground wire to another known ground would that mess anything up?  Would it even make a difference?


Finding that bad ground seems to be an all day job unless anyone has had the same issue and resolved it.  Thanks!

 

[TomS]

I would just run a spare pair of wires right over the floor to the send and gauge to determine if that's the problem, then deal with routing if that's the issue.

 

[cwag911]

Disconnect the sending unit wire and see if it still reads full. If it does it is touching a ground somewhere.

 

[Come Monday]

I disconnected (cut) the ground wire to the sending unit before the connector at the end of the sending unit, with the ignition 'on' and the gauge drops to E, well, 1/4 full is where it stops.  Reconnect the ground and it goes directly to F, well, 1/4 past F.  It's a brand new sending unit.  Could it be the gauge?  It's a multi gauge with the voltage, trim and fuel.  Come to think of it, the trim stops at 1/4 as well when trimmed all the way down.  Bennington will send me another one under warranty but I don't want to send back something unless I know it's the right thing to do.  Hmmm...

 

[Come Monday]

Well - I've found the answer.  I requested a new fuel guage from my dealer, it arrived today so I plugged it in and viola - everything works.  I feel like I should have just done this from the beginning but sometimes it's as simple as a ground.  I suppose if everyone just sent everything back, Bennington's prices would inflate.  Always better to check a few things first but am happy it's working again.

 

[Michiman]

Glad to see your problem has been resolved! 

 

[PSW]

I'm having the same problem. Dealer told me to disconnect the plastic coupling and if it went to empty it is the sending unit which it did so waiting on new sender unit now. Now the trim gauge has a mind of it's own and pegs at top . I do remember that at the end of season I could tap on fuel gauge and it would work for awhile . Just makes you wonder how many trips I'll have to make to the dealer chasing ghost.

 

[Rick S]

I'd like to fix my issues with the gas gauge as well but I'm not sure if I need to get a new gauge, new sending unit or its just a bad ground? My issue is the guage just 'bounces' and when it does stop bouncing it reads significantly lower than the actual gas level. I did replace the sending unit about a year ago but it didn't seem to fix the problem so I'm now thinking it might be the ground or the gauge itself. . . . .