Fuel gauge vibrating
astrokat
09-16-2004, 01:15 PM
Fuel gauge vibrating
My fuel gauge is vibrating. It is accurate but oscillating about the indicated fill point. It began doing this after I fill my tank up the other day.
Help
My fuel gauge is vibrating. It is accurate but oscillating about the indicated fill point. It began doing this after I fill my tank up the other day.
Help
gboozer
10-20-2004, 11:36 PM
My van did this for about 4 months and then decided to continue doing it at the 3/4 full mark always. It is now useless as a gass gague. I have 1/2 trouble shot this and it seems to be an open in the sending circute from the tank. 0 ohms is "full" on this circuit.
jringo
10-31-2004, 11:57 AM
Heres the deal on the guage [and just my 2 cents]
Crawl under the van and you'll see the wiring harness that goes to the top of the tank, there is a plug connector-unplug it and look in both ends for any corrosion [green color]-clean it. Off of that connector you will see a wire that runs to the frame, thats the ground wire. Unbolt it from the frame and scrape the frame and wire connector until shiney. Refasten to frame. See if that does the trick. Its not the guage in the dash. If that doesn't fix it the problem is in the sending unit which is part of the fuel pump [electric] which is inside the gas tank. It involves dropping the tank to replace and if your gonna go through that you would replace the fuel pump and sending unit as a whole. If ya do your own work you can save big bucks as most people I have heard get raped by the shops for what is not a big deal in labor. My advice: If your van runs good [no fuel related problems] skip doing it till ya need a fuel pump and get used to using the trip odometer for a gas guage. The pumps are good for 90,000 miles. If you've had your van that long then DO IT cause a tow will be $75 bucks. A good aftermarket fuel pump is $50 bucks with sending unit. This problem is 50% GM's for flimsy sending units and 50% the gasoline manufactures' for the high sulphur content in refined gasoline. There is a class action lawsuit in Florida against Shell, I hear people are getting some kind of reparations. Check the internet on this one....
I drive an 86 and know alot of people with Astros and Safaris' all report the same fuel guage and ghostly wiring problems. These vehicles are real workhorses and will give excellent longevity if you can get past the simple headache stuff..................Good Luck
Crawl under the van and you'll see the wiring harness that goes to the top of the tank, there is a plug connector-unplug it and look in both ends for any corrosion [green color]-clean it. Off of that connector you will see a wire that runs to the frame, thats the ground wire. Unbolt it from the frame and scrape the frame and wire connector until shiney. Refasten to frame. See if that does the trick. Its not the guage in the dash. If that doesn't fix it the problem is in the sending unit which is part of the fuel pump [electric] which is inside the gas tank. It involves dropping the tank to replace and if your gonna go through that you would replace the fuel pump and sending unit as a whole. If ya do your own work you can save big bucks as most people I have heard get raped by the shops for what is not a big deal in labor. My advice: If your van runs good [no fuel related problems] skip doing it till ya need a fuel pump and get used to using the trip odometer for a gas guage. The pumps are good for 90,000 miles. If you've had your van that long then DO IT cause a tow will be $75 bucks. A good aftermarket fuel pump is $50 bucks with sending unit. This problem is 50% GM's for flimsy sending units and 50% the gasoline manufactures' for the high sulphur content in refined gasoline. There is a class action lawsuit in Florida against Shell, I hear people are getting some kind of reparations. Check the internet on this one....
I drive an 86 and know alot of people with Astros and Safaris' all report the same fuel guage and ghostly wiring problems. These vehicles are real workhorses and will give excellent longevity if you can get past the simple headache stuff..................Good Luck
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