Fuel Gauge

[chvyguy]

Thanks Again To Matt For Help With My Last Post. I Have What Seems To Be The Standard Chevy Gas Gauge Gremlin Its Always Above 1/2 Tank And Sometimes Never Goes Below Full. Heres The Thing That Makes Mine Different If You Tap The Gauge The Reading Will Change By 1/4 To 3/8 But It Still Never Goes Below Half Even If Its Bone Dry. Any Info Would Help.
Thanks In Advance.

[bigdaddyviking67]

I have the same problem with my 1994 Z71. I replaced my fuel sending unit and after I did that, my fuel gauge has been posessed. It will go way past the F when I fill up the tank and when its empty it will usually sit around the 1/2 mark. But there have been times that it goes down to empty. I can't trust that bastard at all, I ran out of gas at 1/2 full once, so I don't go by it anymore. If you have replaced the sending unit, it is possible that the float arm got bent or was bent on the new unit. when I pull mine out the next time during the unavoidable fuel pump change, I am going to bend my float arm a little to try and compensate for its inaccuracies.

[Blue_Villain]

I stopped even looking at mine a long while back. Now I just go by the miles...

I know that under normal driving I get about 12 mpg... and on a 31 gallon tank that's 372 miles... I normally try to get gas at around 300 miles just to be safe (fuel sending unit probs and all).

Now if I only had a resetable trip odometer...

Just my $0.02

-Villain

[rgloston]

I realize that this thread is old, but have any of you thought once that the gauge cold be bad. I have an '86 Silverado (262ci 4.3L V6), and have had that gauge go bad on me after ten years of owning the truck.

What happened to me was:
full-tank read 1/4 tank on gauge
half-tank read 1/8 tank on gauge
empty read just plain EMPTY

With my truck, changed gauge (dealer part), and reads properly everytime. Of course, est by mileage is a great habit.

-R.G. (Baton Rouge, LA)
1986 Chevy Silverado (SWB - Black) (262ci 4.3L V6)

[bigdaddyviking67]

Never thought of that, is the fuel gage a seperate part that some how gets pluged into the back of the instument panel or is the unit one whole thing?

Originally Posted by rgloston

I realize that this thread is old, but have any of you thought once that the gauge cold be bad. I have an '86 Silverado (262ci 4.3L V6), and have had that gauge go bad on me after ten years of owning the truck.

What happened to me was:
full-tank read 1/4 tank on gauge
half-tank read 1/8 tank on gauge
empty read just plain EMPTY

With my truck, changed gauge (dealer part), and reads properly everytime. Of course, est by mileage is a great habit.

-R.G. (Baton Rouge, LA)
1986 Chevy Silverado (SWB - Black) (262ci 4.3L V6)

[klt]

At least I don't feel alone now. Mine went out ages ago. Tried to follow some directions about resetting by manually pushing the pointer back to E but no good. I always fill up and reset the trip odometer. Added advantage is that I always know the miles per gallon. If anyone finds the answer please post. 2 kids in college and too tight to fix something expensive that I can live without. My vehicle is a '97 Astro van.

[J-Ri]

Originally Posted by chvyguy

Thanks Again To Matt For Help With My Last Post. I Have What Seems To Be The Standard Chevy Gas Gauge Gremlin Its Always Above 1/2 Tank And Sometimes Never Goes Below Full. Heres The Thing That Makes Mine Different If You Tap The Gauge The Reading Will Change By 1/4 To 3/8 But It Still Never Goes Below Half Even If Its Bone Dry. Any Info Would Help.
Thanks In Advance.

Try taking the guage out and cleaning the terminals on the back really good. Looking at a wiring diagram for my '86, the center terminal is probably very loose or corroded.

[rgloston]

Sorry for the late response...

Yes, mine is a seperate part that has electrical leads that plug in the back side of the gauge. I checked wires & terminals, but saw no physical abnormalities. I replaced that years ago, and all is still great. Believe it or not, I remember a GM service tech recommended that, and what do you know... he was right.

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*bigdaddyviking67 *
Never thought of that, is the fuel gage a seperate part that some how gets pluged into the back of the instument panel or is the unit one whole thing?
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