Fuel gauge floats...

[jclgodale3]

Daughters 92 Rodeo. Driving down the road, the fuel gauge needle floats up and down almost a 1/4 of a tank. Something wrong? A fix for it? Gotta stop to know how much fuel you have?

[jclgodale3]

No one else has had or seen this problem?

[Paul A]

Hi,
It's pretty much a standard feature I'm afraid.
Both my Rodeos (2.2 petrol, 2.2 diesel) do this.
Going up or down an incline and the needle moves quite a way, and on braking and acceleration!
On a straight,level road at a constant speed it's fairly accurate.

[Ramblin Fever]

Same here; mine floats mainly going uphill - has done this since new 9yrs ago.

Put a bottle of techron in there, but I doubt that'll help. Just the nature of the beast.

For example, normally my truck is just barely coming off the full mark with 60 miles or so, well, when I hit an upslope, or specifically an uphill circular on-ramp, the gauge will read 3/4 full, but when I level back out, it goes back up to full.

[Canucklehead]

Originally Posted by Ramblin Fever

Same here; mine floats mainly going uphill - has done this since new 9yrs ago.

Put a bottle of techron in there, but I doubt that'll help. Just the nature of the beast.

For example, normally my truck is just barely coming off the full mark with 60 miles or so, well, when I hit an upslope, or specifically an uphill circular on-ramp, the gauge will read 3/4 full, but when I level back out, it goes back up to full.

I don't think that's what jclgodale3 is referring to. I think he may be experiencing the needle bouncing up and down (at least that's what it sounded like to me). Could be a bad connection at the sending unit combined with the vehicle vibrating as it moves down the road which is resulting in the needle "float". You can try removing the connector and looking to see if there is any corrosion or oxidation or lose pins. Putting some dielectric gease in the plug before you reconnect it may help but if there is significant corrosion or a loose pin you may need to replace either the sending unit or the wire harness.

[isuzuarrggghh]

I have a 00 rodeo and when the fuel gauge reads approx half or less the dummy light says I need fuel even though I don't. also the engine starts acting funny. any ideas?

[Canucklehead]

Originally Posted by isuzuarrggghh

I have a 00 rodeo and when the fuel gauge reads approx half or less the dummy light says I need fuel even though I don't. also the engine starts acting funny. any ideas?

Check out the FAQs.

[isuzuarrggghh]

with mine the fuel gauge does not "float". i've checked them and can't find anything. I just replaced the pcv valve (it was org over 100k). next to replace is fuel filter. also tried an additive (stp fuel system cleaner) waiting for the wife to come home too see if it worked. tonight unhook the battery and going to try that.

[isuzuarrggghh]

also all the others say fuel gauge "float" mine is not "floating" the needle is okay it is the engine or fuel tank issue and I can't figure out which. I plan on trying everything without having to drop the fuel tank and replace the unit.

[AWILLIAMS64]

I was having this problem w/ my 01 passport, guage going up and down and gas light coming on at random, and it was the sending unit in tank. I got the part from a person on this forum and replaced it saturday and it has been working great! The fuel pump is actually a delco fuel pump and so is the sending unit. My pump actuall had delphi stamped in the top of it and we had a fuel pump from an s-10 blazer out and they looked exactly the same and had the same numbers on them??? All in all this fixed my problem

[isuzuarrggghh]

thanks I will give that a try.