Fuel gauge problem

[miggypq21]

Ok so my fuel gauge reads full until I have about half a tank left, then it starts dropping to about half which means the tank is empty. They guy said to just reset the tripometer every time I filled up, he usually got about 200 miles on a tank. We'll I reset the tripometer about 2 week ago when I filled up, I've putt about 110 miles and the gauge is almost right on the half way mark, I wanna figure this out because its getting on my nerves and I really have NO idea what it could be. Thanks for the help in advance guys :D

[jspaeth]

200 miles on a tank? Did the previous owner spend a lot of time running from cops? That is terrible gas mileage....

Maybe might wanna take that to a shop to have it checked out man

[Maiku240sxS14]

Are you sure the tank is empty when the gauge reads half? In my car S14 when i'm at half a tank i'm about 200 miles. The last half of the gauge i get about another 100 miles or so...

One test you can do is take the cap off the gas tank itself to be able to get the filler gauge and tip the filler gauge upside down and see if the gauge to go from full to empty...

[spool_sample]

The gas gauges in S-chassis cars BLOW. For 2 months my gas gauge was stuck at full until it suddenly decided it wanted to come down again. I had to fill up the car everytime I went somewhere just to be safe.

Now, I'll get down to a half tank and it'll sit there for a while, drop WAY down, come back up, and then slowly go down again.

Take a look inside your gas tank and check the float. There's a writeup on how to do this somewhere, either on here or FA, but I don't remember where off-hand.

[let5l1de]

I can think of only three things possible areas that may be at fault here.

1. fuel sender in bad shape the fix - buy a new oem or good used

2. fuel sender wire is broken, wrong size or no longer within resistance parameters the fix - purchase a new oem or good used

3. fuel gauge in dash may be broken or faulty the fix - adjust the screws of resistance till gauge is within proper specs/reading, buy good used unit or new oem if u can find them.

fsm - s13 DE fuel sender test instructions

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/let5l1de/240sx/Picture_1.gif


good luck!

[drift_student]

I'm pretty sure that the baffling in the tank has come loose and the float on the sending unit is getting caught in it sometimes. I had to pull my baffling out because it made the gas gauge read empty until I took a hard corner.

It happens because the baffling is only held with puny little tack welds.

[silvia240]

Every time i take a hard right turn or go on a freeway enterence / exit ( the on ramp off ramp ones that go in a circle), my gas guage drops like a quarter tank. Its been doing that ever since i got my car in 99.

[xxslidewaysxx]

had the same problem, mine was the floater, the first one i had which was the original one that i got the car (s14) with was rusted ( dont know why, i thnk they got it from a junk yard) so it wouldnt read half tank down cuz it was really dirty. so i cleaned it , got better but sometimes would go down out of nowhere then eventually back up. i replaced it and it was a lil better then i replaced it again and now its good. so just make sure you get a floater that is clean and free of any marking or rust.

[Mister.E]

I'm pretty sure that the baffling in the tank has come loose and the float on the sending unit is getting caught in it sometimes. I had to pull my baffling out because it made the gas gauge read empty until I took a hard corner.

It happens because the baffling is only held with puny little tack welds.

dude this is a recurring problem for me. how did you get the baffling out? any problems when you drift due to the missing baffle?