My fuel gauge reads empty all the time. I checked the fuse's all good.
I was reading the Hayne's manual about cleaning or replacing the sender, but before I go through that, is there a way to determin if it's the sender or the gauge itself? Can I test it in any simple way? Trying to avoid doing unecessary work.

Thanks

There is a way to test the sender with a meter. The resistance changes as the float moves up and down. I'm not exactly sure how it's done but I know that some of the other guys do.

I have a problem with my fuel gauge too. It never goes over half a tank.Seems to know when I'm almost out of gas though

I was told it is possible to carefully clean the 2 wires that the sender float slides on. Otherwise, just replace the whole sender.

My guess is something is disconnected, which will be very obvious if you pull the gauge out of the dash (it just pulls out). Entire the +12 wire (red/white) or the gauge wire (green) is probably not hooked up, or the connector has come off.

If you short the the gauge terminal on the back of the gauge to power, it should peg full (with the ignition on). A jumper wire from the gauge terminal to the red/white wire terminal should be enough.

You have to remove the expansion tank to see the sender connector. There are three wires there, brown for ground, black for the low-fuel light, and green for the gauge.

If the low-fuel light never comes on, then it's possible the brown ground wire at the sender has come adrift.

If the gauge and the wiring seem good, then it's the sender. Either the float is stuck, or the sending wire has broken.

On the only half-full problem, the float rides on a tube and the sending wires. If the tube or the wires get crap on them, the float will stick. There's a thread somewhere on opening the sender, with photos of the insides.

got a multimeter? take out the gauge and put some voltage to it. like 5V or so and see if it moves ...

if a gauge does not move at all under normal operation, i always suspect wrong wiring first. so make *sure* it's hooked up correctly!

G does *not* stand for ground, it stands for "Geber" which is the german word for sender ...

just making sure ...
Andy

PS: i had a reputable shop put my engine back in about a year ago or so. asked them to hook up the new to me oil-temp gauge while they were in there.
got the car back and the gauge never did anything at all. so i looked at it and they had put the ground on "G". doh!

Gee, I thought G meant "gauge"...

G means lots of things

Thanks Guy's, oh and of course, Gwen

I was almost right with my advice too, huh?

Damn straight!!!