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Fuel Guage

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately not the original owner. I’ll still call Bennington and see what they can do.
 
Did you transfer the warranty when you purchased?
 
I think logically if the fuel sender is showing variable resistance with float movement, then the sender is good. Am I reading correctly you removed both parts, test wired them and got the same results? Sounds like a bad gauge to me then, but you don't want to be throwing parts at this.

The grounds should be clean and shared between the gauge and sender (according to the interweb). All else fails maybe buy a cheapo gauge, test and then return?
 
Thanks Yes, I removed both parts and directly connected them to the battery with jumpers sharing the same ground. Tested the same. Gauge is only thing I can think of. Thanks for confirming.
 
I don’t recall the warranty was transferred, but it could have been. I bought the boat in 2020 with 50 hours on it. Thanks for asking. I’ll look into it.
 
Jwoody said:
Thanks Yes, I removed both parts and directly connected them to the battery with jumpers sharing the same ground. Tested the same. Gauge is only thing I can think of. Thanks for confirming.
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I read a great explanation once about how these work - your fuel gauge sends voltage to your sender, which then has a resistance value based on float level, and then it exits to ground. Low resistance is Full, high resistance is Empty. If that circuit somehow grounds prematurely and the gauge sees zero resistance it will peg Full, so in many cases you get bad readings from shorted wires.

In your case you eliminated that possibility with direct wiring, as well as verified that the sender is providing variable resistance. So the only thing left in my view is the gauge. Let us know if you end up resolving!
 
Jwoody said:
I don’t recall the warranty was transferred, but it could have been. I bought the boat in 2020 with 50 hours on it. Thanks for asking. I’ll look into it.
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This is something you would have needed to do when you bought it through a Bennington dealer. Hopefully you just forgot that you had it done. If transferred, your boat should be under warranty until 2018, if you didn’t, it would have lapsed when you bought it used in 2020. Fingers crossed for you!
 
Geoffrey & Brenda said:
LSUFAB, Welcome to the forum! The first thing to do is look under the helm to see if any wires have come loose from the back of the fuel gauge. Next, check wiring at the fuel tank. If no problems with the wiring are found, the next step is to isolate where the problem lies, Gauge or sending unit. It can get a bit complicated from here if you aren't familiar with wiring and the use of a volt/ohm meter. Since i don't know your experience level, check the wiring first and get back to us with what you have found. And if you feel comfortable going to further testing, i can try to walk you through it. Otherwise a trip to your local boat mechanic may be in order. Meantime, post us some pics of your toon and the happy folks who get to go boating on it!
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Hello, I have the same problem. Thank you for your suggestions. Where can I find the fuel tank and the wires to it?
Thank you!
 
Unscrew the deck plate on floor covering the fuel sensor in the tank. Next WITH KEY ON short the two terminals on the sensor with a short screwdriver or similar. Have someone watch to see if the gauge shows full when touching the sensor terminals together. It may take a few seconds to move as the gauge could be damped (moves slow). If you get a full deflection on gauge this tells all wires and gauge are working and the float is not. Replace float. If gauge does not swing full while doing this test you need to put a volt meter on back of gauge to see if it is getting battery power. There are three terminals on back of gauge. One is battery negative one is battery positive and third one is a small voltage around 5 volts. If voltage is present at gauge then replace gauge. This test at tank sensor is safe as the voltage there is the 5 volt from gauge and no spark will occur.

Most any aftermarket automotive fuel gauge will work if you don't mind the face looking different. Auto meter brand makes good gauges and can be found at most auto parts stores.

Hope I helped - good luck
 
Oh yeah, for everyone else remember most fuel tanks in boats have a "V" shaped bottom. That means the top half holds more gas than the bottom half does. If you drive until you have a half tank - - - you won't make it back!!
 
I fixed mine in 5 minutes…After reading through this forum I unfortunately was given no help as to a quick resolution for this seemingly common issue with faulty fuel gauge readings on Benningtons. See pictures at the bottom for reference.

So I post this in hopes of helping others to quickly resolve this on your own.

I started with unplugging the harness attached to the sender. I then turned the key to on and it went from full bars (even tho it was empty) to no bars (empty or full). This told me there was no issue with wiring and I proceeded to step 2: power and batteries off. Remove the sender. There was a significant amount of pressure released after unfastening the last screw…I then re inserted the sender and fastened in place. Then I reinserted the power harness….Then I turned the batteries on and turned the key to ON….and that did it. I went from being stuck on full to a flashing bar—proceeded to put in 4 (5 gallon) tanks of gas—checking the fuel level between each tank…really bizarre for a $100k boat. However, the pressure build up inside the tank (prior to removing and reinserting the sender) was somehow impeding accurate (oem) readings to the display…
 

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LSUFAB said:
I own a 2003 Bennington Pontoon Boat. Model 205L.

The fuel gauge has stopped working.

Any ideas as to how to fix it and / or possible problems would be appreciated.
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See post 31 for a diy solution to this common issue. Cheers.
 
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TDUBS said:
See post 31 for a diy solution to this common issue…I fixed mine in 5 min. No thanks to the other 30 posts in this forum. Cheers.
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Your issue is probably one of the least likely to happen. Are you suggesting pressure was building up in the tank and that was causing the fuel sender to malfunction? That suggests you have a failed vent?
 
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So you are saying that the fuel was under enough pressure that it affected the buoyancy of the reed float and gave false fuel level readings? Mmmm... What did you ascertain as to the cause of the pressure build up? If that is in fact the cause, then it will do it again but next time you just have to open the gas cap and see if you get a whoosh of pressure release and the fuel gage starts working again. As mentioned, this is not a common problem and in 40 years of working on boats I've never heard of this. You have a dangerous situation that needs to be rectified before claiming victory. As suggested, start looking at your vent system.
 
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