Fuel Guage Question

[jammer]

A friend of mine needed me to tow him back to the docks this past Saturday. He told me his fuel guage read 1/2 full but was out of fuel. When he got to the dock it did take 22 gallons.

Question. With the boat being out of fuel and the guage showing half full. Then full in the water once he refilled, could the guage be reset somehow? Or, would you initially think it could be the sending unit?

Sincerely..

 

[TommyA]

Re: Fuel Guage Question

My guess would be in the sending unit. Either the arm is unable to swing from full to empty or the electrical side of the unit is inoperational below the half tank point.

 

[littlebookworm]

Re: Fuel Guage Question

It definitely sounds like the sending unit is bad. You can test it by removing it from the tank, connnecting a ground wire from it to a known ground and slowly moving the float arm up and down while someone takes readings at the guage. Be very careful once you've removed the guage from the tank. You now have an open tank with fumes floating around. You don't want any stray sparks or even static electricity to set them off. Replacing the sending unit is pretty straight forward. Match it with a new one, replace the gasket, slip in into the tank, screw it down, and reconnect the wires. Good luck. Hy