Fuel Gauge Swings

[GT3800 Guy]

Good Day Guys,

My fuel level gauge on the cluster sinks to zero regularly, sometimes it will read correctly and then drop to zero agin. However the information center digital readouts are correct, such as remaining distance and fuel used. Are these two items connected or do they have seperate level sensors.

I'm thinking my fuel level problem may be a loose connection in the dash rather than in the tank. Any thoughts?


1998 Grand Prix GT 3.8L MSD IGN, SLP CAT Back

[JonJon68]

Mine is doing the same thing but only when my tank gets down to a quarter tank then it starts swinging. I have been making sure to fill my tank before I get that low and it works fine. The problem is on the fuel pump in the tank and it's called the "fuel sending unit" and it goes bad. There's an access panel in the trunk immediately behind the back seat in my 97 GPGT as well there should be in yours too. Either you can replace the sending unit on the pump or just replace the entire pump with a new sending unit attached.
I'm going to wait and see what happens with mine. I'll prolly just change out the entire pump if it gets any worse.

[GT3800 Guy]

Mine was acting like that, then it got worse and now the guage rarely works at all. I was going to replace the sending unit as well however I started to think, why is the information console still reading correctly. Now I'm thinking that there may be a loose connection in the dah to the gauge, that is a pretty common problem in chev vehicles. Wish I had a wiring diagram for this system.

If you change the sending unit and it works could you please post back and let me know how well it works.

[JonJon68]

I really don't think it's a loose connection in your DIC. From what I've read and learned on this invaluable forum is that it's a loose connection with the sending unit on the fuel pump in the gas tank. So far mine is working fine if I don't let my fuel get down to a quarter tank. Eventually I'll have to make a decision on whether to replace the sending unit or the entire pump. I really can't tell ya when that'll be but I'll keep you posted. Keep us posted too on what you decide to do to correct your problem. Good Luck.