fuel tank capaicy

[Silverbullet]

Ok, cool. Good to know. It is likely that the electrical on your fuel sender is okay. My guess is that the floating part inside the sender is stuck in some way. You are right, it is just a contraption with a floating piece inside that rises and falls depending on how much gas is in the tank (or how big the hill is you're driving up!).

If you access the fuel sender, you can take it out and inspect.

1) Empty your trunk
2) Remove the carpeted board from the trunk
3) Remove the spare tire
4) Under the spot where the spare tire was, you should see an access hatch. It is an odd shape and follows the contour of the round depression along the edge nearest the windshield. You need to be able to remove that hatch, which if you are lucky and someone has already worked on this in the past, could be just a set of screws holding it in place. It could be riveted in there too. Get to this step and report back if it looks strange or you're not quite sure how to get in there.
5) Once you have the hatch removed, you will see the top of the front of the tank. It is somewhat triangular and you are looking at the wide side of the triangle. You'll see the fuel pump boot/hoses on the passenger side, and beside it on the drivers side will be a smaller hole which has the fuel sender stuck in it. The wiring connections are on top, so check those while you're looking at them.
6) You can disconnect the fuel sender carefully from the wiring quick connect, and then loosen the retaining ring/clamp holding it in place. It is pretty straight forward. It is threaded, so you should be able to "lefty loosey" it and then pull it straight up. Don't get fuel all over yourself, but once you have it out, you should be able to tip it up and down type thing to get a feel whether the inside sliding/floating piece is stuck or not.

The fuel sender is supposed to be in there pretty snug with a gasket preventing fumes from escaping. Be conscious of that gasket material as you pull it out as you'll have to put it back when you go to reinstall it.

Try that and see what you find...

EDIT: and actually, once you have access in there, you can play a bit with what you see on the gauge while you're progressing. If you disconnect the sender, and then go to turn your car key to accessories, you should see the fuel needle go to 12 o'clock. Along those same lines, if you have it still connected to the wiring, but you take the sender out and tip it up and down, you should see the fuel needle move, so long as the floating piece in the sender is moving. This would also be a good time to see if your "idiot" light saying your fuel tank is low comes on. It is orange (or red maybe?) and the warning light is on the right side of the instrument cluster. You'll need a helper to do this with unless you have REALLY long arms!

Ok, many many thanks... here is what I found... I un-pluged the wires, and when I turned the key on the fuel gauge pointed straight up. Then i pulled the Float, it was stuck at the top... I sprayed with carb cleaner... and it still did not move... so I smacked it on the bottom a few times, pretty hard, and got it to move see pic. It now reads 1/2 full so gauge is good float is bad... So I guess I need to replace.



I sure wish I knew if it ran out of gas, or it was another problem... I guess I would have to fill the tank, and see home much it would take.

Craig

[Jonathan]

If you think that sender might be destined for the garbage can, then it probably wouldn't hurt to try a few rescue efforts on it before you get a new one.

If you think it might just be that it's not sliding smooth anymore, it could be there is some gunk in and around the inside of the column or the float. I wonder if maybe you tried to soak it overnight in some kind of degreaser if that would help free it up? Not sure what you might use though. Heck, try dish soap perhaps, but just get it all off before you dip it back in the fuel tank.

Or are you saying the float doesn't float anymore? I have never taken one apart, but I wonder if that float could actually break open a bit and basically get filled with fuel. "Water logged" sort of. I guess if you run out of options you could try and dismantle it and see if you can figure out what the problem is. Again, I don't remember what goes on inside the sender really or how you would take it apart.

Last time I checked, DMCX sold fuel senders for $99. And if I'm not mistaken they might be better calibrated than the old originals. Like another member said, you could conceivably go with the fuel pump & sender combo, but if your fuel pump is fine, that's a bit of an overkill.

The good news is it sounds like everything else from the sender wiring back to the gauge is working fine.

As for you wondering if there was something else making you stall other than just running out of gas, I would suggest solving the thing you know was a problem, that being that you added some gas and it started right up. I would chalk the engine dying up to no fuel until proven otherwise. You could start doing all kinds of things not even knowing if they were really a problem in the first place. You're right though, get the fuel gauge working and figure out how much fuel is in the tank, then subtract that from what you added. If it wasn't an empty tank causing the problem, we'll tackle that next

[Silverbullet]

I started a new thread, as the Float issue has been solved...

Thanks!

Craig