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Fuel gauge suddenly reading full permanently


GTD

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Any pointers to the likely cause of my petrol gauge suddenly reading permanently full?

 

I've checked, and it is not the miracle of the constantly-full Optimax? *confused*

 

G 4 Geoff

 

Leather Good - Carbon Fibre Bad *wink*

 

 

619 GTD here

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Geoff

 

Typically such behaviour indicates a shorted sender or at least a shorted wire somewhere from the sender to the gauge.

 

Disconnect the input to the gauge from the sender, leaving the +12v and ground still connected to the gauge (with the ign ON). What happens to the gauge? Does it return to zero? Now short the input of the gauge to ground... does it now go to FULL?

 

If yes, the gauge is OK and it's a sender issue (short circuit) or the sender wire is shorting out somewhere enroute to the gauge.

 

Chris

 

2003 1.8K SV 140hp see it here

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  • Leadership Team

I can't recall whether it is the pump wiring or the sender wiring that exits on top of the tank.

When I recently had my boot floor out I noticed the wiring on the top of the tank is sandwiched rather nastily between the tank and the boot floor, such that my honeycomb panel has a neat channel "dinged" in it to avoid wiring damage. This is not Caterham o/e dinging but is an owner upgrade!

If this is the sender wiring it may be worth an inspection?

 

Stu.

 

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Thanks all - I will have a fiddle in the garage when I get home. On the other hand it's the Sussex meet at The Gribble tonight, so I may brim the tank and have a go at the weekend!

 

 

 

 

*thumbup*

 

G 4 Geoff

 

Leather Good - Carbon Fibre Bad *wink*

 

 

619 GTD here

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GTD,

Had a similar problem a while ago - after spending a long time trying to trace the wiring fault I took the send out to find it had jammed in the FULL position. Gave it a good clean up and it' s been fine for quite a few years now.

 

See you at the Gribble,

 

Dave H

 

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  • 1 year later...

I've had this issue this morning and a search has found this *thumbup* Assuming the gauge is ok and wiring appears to be ok and the sender is at fault, how easy is it to remove the sender (full A,B,C please 😬)

 

Seek forgiveness, not permission.

Rules are for the interpretation of wise men and the obedience of fools.

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Easy peasy:

 

1 Open boot cover.

2 Remove screws (2) holding fuel filler pipe cover in place

3 Remove screws (4 IIRC) holding aft section of boot floor in, tilt boot floor up out of the way (no need to extricate it completely which can be a tricky paint-scratching exercise).

4 Pull wires off sender (sender is the thing in the top of the tank with 2 wires going to it)

5 Undo sender screws and withdraw sender from tank. Try not to drop glowing fag ash down the hole...

 

My sender has jammed in the 'full' position a couple of times - I bent the float wire slightly to stop it from jamming against the front of the tank.

 

Mike

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  • 1 month later...

I get this problem as well. Additionally the light has gone out in the fuel guage. I mostly rely on my mileage to guide filling up (200 start looking, 250 start panicking).

 

I will start fiddling at the dashboard end rather than the fuel end (call me a scaredy cat) -- how do I tell which wire is which on the back of the guage?

 

My ... Preciousss!

Member #109**

 

Edited by - db on 22 Jan 2006 09:48:14

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