fuel gauge is screwed can any one help?

[hondavti25]

hey, my fuel gauge is messed up i think it wont go above 3/4 and i know the car is full coz every pump i use spews fuel out as its full but no matter what i level of ground i am on it wont go above half its been really touchy for a couple weeks now but now its just yeah .... can any one suggest a solution or alternative like a new set of custom gauges or somthin?

[bennjamin]

replace your fuel filter. Might be blocked.
Also take out your back seats , take off the fuel tank cover ( with a philip head screwdriver) and unplug the fuel-sender plug. IT sends the signal of the fuel level to the dash. See if its broken or disconnected etc for a start

[dsp26]

as above my bets on fuel sender.

not as hard as it seems to remove the backseats.

give the contacts on the sender a clean while you're there diagnosing it.

oh and IMPORTANT:
wear gloves, you'll cut your hands in that area once you take the lid off.

[JasonGilholme]

also, try not to get any crap in ya fuel tank if its exposed.

[steve88]

sorry for a thread hijack, but my guage goes on empty at about 300km out of about 500km i can pull out of a tank

[dsp26]

as above... sender would be crapping itself, it maybe salvage-able by cleaning the electrical contacts.

also i'm not sure if the honda ones are like this, but have you guys seen the water container part of a toilet bowl and how it regulates water intake??

fuel sender is the same... theres a floaty thing (pushed by fuel level) that rises. this lever is connected to an adjustable resistor circuit.

[creativepunka]

replace your fuel filter. Might be blocked.


Please explain how a blocked fuel filter could give faulty fuel gauge readings??

[furiouswilly]

the fuel gauge and fuel sending unit are very easy to test and in about 15 minutes you will know exactly what's wrong.

First thing you need to do is check all the fuses and make sure you are getting power to the gauge. If the other gauges are working, then you can safely assume power is coming into the cluster (red/yellow wire).Then check the black/yellow wire at the fuel tank connector and make sure you have a good ground.

If power and ground are good, then ground the yellow/white wire at the fuel tank connector. If the fuel gauge goes all the way to FULL, you have a bad sending unit. If it stays at Empty, you have a bad gauge or an open in the yellow/white wire.