2000 Gas Gauge Faulty?

[Cowboy0001]

I have an intermittent problem with my gas gauge and I don't know how to start looking for the problem... My truck is a 2000 K2500 Z71 HD. When sitting still or moving, my gas gauge drops to the far left side of the gauge, showing an empty tank and the Low Fuel light comes on. After a while the needle will very slowly climb up to the proper fuel level. Sometimes, when I shift from park (the gauge is showing empty fuel) and stop in neutral, the gauge bounces to the proper fuel level. Also, with the gauge showing empty tank, when I shift into drive it begins a very slow climb to the correct fuel level, I mean a very slow climb, like 5 minutes or more and the Low Fuel light goes out when the needle is far enough in the gauge to show just over 1/8 tank. I could be driving down the road and everything is hunky-dory and all of a sudden the needle drops to empty and the Low fuel light comes on. Also, I could be sitting at a light, stop sign or just waiting in a parking lot with the selector lever in either Park or Drive (respectively) and the fuel gauge acts very erratic. Is there a test procedure I can do to find out my problem? Please help if you have any correct ways to test for this... Thanks! Kevin...

[gkh7890]

Cowboy...

Sounds like you have a faulty sending unit. I have an '00 Sierra K1500 w/ 130K miles. Mine has been acting up and doing the same exact thing as you've described. I had the same problem w/ my '00 Express van and replaced the sending unit on it (Nov. '04) and no more problems.

The sending unit is attached to the fuel pump which is inside the fuel tank. To do yourself, you can either drop the tank or take off the bed. I dropped the tank on the van and if it is as easy as 2 people have told me, taking the bed off is much easier. I'm waiting on my part to arrive and a warmer day than 10 degrees F to do it.

Either way, get a chilton's manual for $15, it is worth the $$. I'm told that to take off the bed, remove the bed bolts, unhook the wiring to the tail lights, and unbolt the fuel filler tube and tie it back. You'll need a couple of friends to help but you can pick up the bed and move it back about 3 feet, get a set of saw horses or something similar to support the back of the bed. The top of the fuel tank is right there and accessible. From there, you can follow the manual on the removal of the pump unit. Otherwise, the manual walks you thru step-by-step to drop the tank.

The chilton's manual tells you how to test for a faulty sending unit, once you've removed it. I followed the manual (though it was on the van) and tested the sending unit on my van with a volt meter. When compared to the replacement part, it was very easy to see that I had a bad sending unit. The needle, testing the good unit, will move slowly but continuously.

BEFORE you do this, get a NEW seal/gasket. Don't re-install the old one. They're like a $1.00 or so at a parts store.

To get a replacement sending unit, my local dealer wanted $135. You can get a good deal on Ebay for the whole pump w/ sending unit. Do know your part number for your application when buying on ebay. Also, try gmpartsdirect.com as I've found them to be great to deal with not only from a customer service standpoint but to have the best "new" price from a dealer as well.

Hope this helps?

Good luck Cowboy!!!!

[ridered]

my 94 same thing I agree bad sending unit will replace this summer
ps: never thought about E-bay Thanks

[WEF]

GM sending units do not like the sulphur that is in today's gasoline. Saturns and Corvettes seem to be the worse but I've heard that the problem is in all late models. My Corvette was covered under the extended warranty. There is a TSB for the Vettes but I don't know about the other Brands. They first tried a re program that only moved the problem to the ¼ to ¾ area. A heavy dose of Techron and switching to Shell Premium helped a lot but it was still unreliable. Then they replaced the right tank sensor and all is well. Your problem sounds like what I went through.