Faulty Fuel Gauge '99 Silverado

[Haw'n Hog]

Aloha from Hawaii. I just bought a '99 tricked-out Silverado from L.A. (More on that later...) My fuel gauge just went on the fritz a few weeks back. When I start the truck the Low Fuel Warning light comes on and the fuel gauge reads empty. After a few minutes the fuel gauge slowly climes to the correct setting, but not for long. As I drive it will often fall back to the empty setting and the warning light will come on again. It will go thru this cycle several times; sometimes not even resting on the correct setting.

Any idea what is causing this to happen?

[Jimmiz71]

The problem is with your Fuel gauge Sending unit which is part of the Fuel Pump Assembly. You need to drop your tank and Replace the the Sending unit, This is a common problem with the 99'-01' Silverado's. Go

[Jimmiz71]

Good Luck.
-Jimmy

[joelyons]

my 99 silverado did the same thing. dropped the tank and replaced the fuel gauge sending unit. works better than new!!!

[dhspring]

I just got a 2000 Silverado this week and it's doing exactly the same thing, gauge goes to empty then comes back up to actual gas level. Glad to know how to solve the problem.

Does anyone know how difficult it is to drop the fuel tank and replace the gauge. I would want to replace everthing in there once I've gone to that trouble. Are there any special tools required to disconnect fuel lines etc? Thanks a bunch!

[Haw'n Hog]

Mahalo (thanks) everyone!

Damn, I was hoping that was NOT the solution. I checked all the connections and was hoping a loose ground was the problem. I knew that dropping the tank was the final step. Really didn't want to do that.

I have the same problem in my '87 El Camino and know that the fix for that is also replacing the sending unit/pump in the tank....

Aside from my Silerado (that is Whipple equipped), I also have a '87 El Camino (super clean and 350 equipped), a "stock" '02 PT Cruiser, and a '95 Harley Electra Glide (stripped and w/a built motor.) I like my toys!!!!

[Karen512]

my 98 Sierra's gas gauge vibrates and just flips backwards and forwards between F and E. I have been told it the fuel sending unit also. Must look into it soon.

[doughby82]

its alot easier to unbolt the bed and move it back about two feet.check with this guy for your fuel pump assembly.i got mine from him for 180 shipped off of his ebay auctions.http://klova-autoparts.tripod.com/klova/id10.html

[yeahbabytr6]

Anyone have the Delco part number for the sending unit or the rebuild kit I've heard about?

[markus9]

any one know what the part number is !

[Sonny01]

Here are the numbers for the whole unit with pump and sending unit.
Gm Part # 25176865 / 25345026
Ac Delco Part # Mu1089
Old Ac Delco Part # Mu86

Sonny

[exbpdk9]

There was another post a while back that indicated there was a rebuild kit for the sending unit. Anyone know or have a part number on this.

[Nigel215]

My gauge dosent really do this yet. But it is starting to show signs of it. It will be at a 1/2 tank then 5 min. later i will look and i will be at 3/4??? Does this seem like i will have problems in the future? and is there anything i can do to stop it?

[Jake795]

It's very likely that you will have this problem in the future. I just bought my truck from a small used car dealership last week and i'm already having the fuel gauge problems. Going today to finalize some paperwork so i'm gonna try and find out if i can get them to replace the damn thing for me.

Jake

[Silver HO]

If you purchased your vehicle from LA after 5/14/04 you probably got some bad Shell gasoline. Shell had an isolated problem with high sulphur content from one of their refinerys and the contaminated fuel was delivered to stations all over LA on that date, especially around the New Orleans area. Thousands of vehicle's sending units were damaged, including my wife's 1999 tahoe and my brand new 2004 Silverado. Shell paid for the sending unit replacement and gave every customer a $20 gas gift card, no questions asked. I don't know if the campaign is still active but here is the website that was posted in the newspaper that gave a list of participating dealers making the free repairs (www.interactclaims.com/shell/). You can also ask a Shell station attendant for the info.