vibrating gas needle

i just puchased my second astro its a 99 awd. he fuel gauge reads correct fuel level, but has a shake/vibrate to it at all levels. it shakes so fast and very little left to right that it makes the needle look blurry. it does not affect me reading the gauge but its very annoying, any ideas? thanks in advance, joe

The electronic buffer in the fuel level sender is faulty. It's located in the fuel pump module and can be serviced separately, GM dealers have the level sender. The tank must be removed and the fuel pump module removed from the tank before the level sender can be serviced. Fuel pumps typically last around 100,000 miles before they need replacement. Most aftermarket fuel pump modules use a cheesy buffer and a cheesier fuel pump. I would guess that your fuel pump was replaced with an aftermarket assembly. When you decide to repair it, do yourself a favor and use an AC Delco fuel pump module.

will definately check that out, the van currently only has 61k on it, i will ask the original owner if he fuel pump was ever changed, thanks joeyd

Hello,

My 1998 Safari AWD fuel gauge needle is having a vibrate to it too. It shakes so rapidly that it looks blurry while none of my other gage needles are doing that. Also, when I put the key in and turn it to "on" position, the gas gauge needle shoots straight up way past "full" on the gauge and then returns to approximately where the fuel level actually is. It's like it's testing full-range of the gas gauge or something. My cousin's Subaru Legacy does that as a feature, but on all his gauges. haha. I don't know if I should be worried about the fuel pump or not too.

This other thread says it's the tines on the rheostat were stretched out after years of fuel slosh:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=380894