Nutty Gas Guage

[bbarber58]

I have a 1999 Aurora and just recently the gas guage will move from full to empty or stay in one spot, depends on its mood as you watch it.
It wanders aimlessly as you drive. When the tank is full it shows and stays full till about have a tank (i'm guessing) and that is when it starts wandering. Right now we just reset the trip odometer to let us know when to fill up. Any ideas??????

[MadMatt62]

Bad ground? Or worse, perhaps a bad sending unit.

[treeboy38]

Next time fill up when you have about 1/4 of a tank of gas left. These seems like a common problem when the fuel gauge ball (or whatever it is) gets dirty and/or corroded. When you fill up with 1/4 of a tank, add some good fuel cleaner like Techron or something similiar (i like Berryman's B-12 too) and you should be fine. The gauge tends to rectify itself.

[Autobanaurora]

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=282117

Seems many of us have had this problem, I ran STP and the problem stopped. Don't waste your money on sending unit.

[OldsM20]

Originally Posted by bbarber58

I have a 1999 Aurora and just recently the gas guage will move from full to empty or stay in one spot, depends on its mood as you watch it.
It wanders aimlessly as you drive. When the tank is full it shows and stays full till about have a tank (i'm guessing) and that is when it starts wandering. Right now we just reset the trip odometer to let us know when to fill up. Any ideas??????

Hi, My 97 Auroras fuel gauge did the exact same thing you described.
I removed the sending unit/fuel pump and found the unit had play where it pivots and was not letting the two fingers make full contact with the wires. For now, I bent the two fingers in a little and it works fine. Other than, the gauge reads about two needle widths lower than normal. When I get a chance I'm going to replace it.
Let me know if you want some pictures of the unit I took out of my car to understand it better.