2001 silverado wiring short - fuel guage

[laracroft]

We know we have a short of some kind and all of it or part of it must be connected to the fuel guage as it is acting up. However, I've read some of the posts and I guess that happens sometimes in Silverados. Can anyone tell me how to trace the wiring from what point to what point to try to find the short.

The symptoms - something is staying on or shorting out because when you start it, it's sometimes very slow to start and the charging guage goes almost all the way up - so something is draining the battery. My husband says the cables to the battery check out ???

Thanks for any help at all - Cathy

[N5XL]

How many miles does it have? I've got 140k on mine (01 Silverado 4wd) and I have already replaced the fuel gauge sender because it was not reading the level of fuel correctly. I think that was back about 80k miles.

When you say it starts slowly...do you mean it cranks slowly before the engine finally starts to run or do you mean that it cranks at the normal speed but just takes a lot of cranking before it finally starts? If its the first, that could be very much a bad battery or bad cables. Have you changed out the battery since you've had it? I just did mine about a month ago because the positive terminal on the battery was leaking acid. I caught it before it spilled and made a mess of my fender. Make sure you check yours if its the factory battery...they are notorious for leaking there. This would fit in well with the charging issue you see. The alternator is putting out all it can to try and charge a bad battery. Have the battery checked out.

If you have the latter problem instead, I'd say you have a bad fuel pump. You already know you have a bad sender, and since you have to drop the tank to replace the sender, you might as well get a fuel pump while you are at it...its due for one.

Dave

[laracroft]

Thank you for answering - it has around 90k on it. by starting slowly - it's like the battery has been drained. so it could be two different problems happening at the same time. I think my husband checked the battery and cables but i will make sure - Cathy

Originally Posted by N5XL

How many miles does it have? I've got 140k on mine (01 Silverado 4wd) and I have already replaced the fuel gauge sender because it was not reading the level of fuel correctly. I think that was back about 80k miles.

When you say it starts slowly...do you mean it cranks slowly before the engine finally starts to run or do you mean that it cranks at the normal speed but just takes a lot of cranking before it finally starts? If its the first, that could be very much a bad battery or bad cables. Have you changed out the battery since you've had it? I just did mine about a month ago because the positive terminal on the battery was leaking acid. I caught it before it spilled and made a mess of my fender. Make sure you check yours if its the factory battery...they are notorious for leaking there. This would fit in well with the charging issue you see. The alternator is putting out all it can to try and charge a bad battery. Have the battery checked out.

If you have the latter problem instead, I'd say you have a bad fuel pump. You already know you have a bad sender, and since you have to drop the tank to replace the sender, you might as well get a fuel pump while you are at it...its due for one.

Dave

[jeverett]

You might want to check the battery itself, unless it's new. Sometimes they will develop a bad cell and won't fully charge, or will loose their charge easily.