http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/elect-13.htm my gauge seems sticky or something. i out some gas in the other day, and it read 1/2 tank for a couple days...then it finally read 1/4 tank.
but everytime it goes to 1/4 tank, the light comes on, and the needle never goeas any lower. i will fill it up tomorrow to see if it goes higher.
in an early car, what one of these procedures are easier?
what is the more likely source?
would gas pressure have anyhting to do with this problem?
in another thread, i mentioned that my car is very slow on take off, and even worse when cold. today, with my car at this gas- light -on-and -gas-level-low type of situation, my car seems almost as fast as when i first got it.
can these be related in any way?

 

I know the gauge on my car is pretty inaccurate. The previous owner changed the gauge faces and that might be part of it but Idoubt it. For a long time it would never read above half a tank. Now after owning the car for over a year it will go up to the 3/4 mark. But when it hits the E mark and the light comes on a few miles later the car still has nine plus gallons in it. I find the lazy way to deal with it is to just fill up when the light comes on unles I am in a big hurry and know I won't be going far enough to use up 8 gallons to be conservative. My NA seems to get about 20 mpg with the way I drive in the city so that is about 160 miles or up to 240 on the highway if I drive according to the fuel **** light.

 

Mine is well, schizo (no offense to those who are actually schizo). Mine seems to do whatever the heck it wants, last week I filled it up and pretty much all the way down to 1/8 of a tank it had the resemblance of working correctly. The other day I put $10 in and a day later (I don't drive it much) the gauge was pegged empty, no fuel light came on though. Sometimes it will bop around and show what should be in the tank, then it will peg empty. Maybe a bad connector somewhere, I need to just troubleshoot it someday.

Tom
'84 944
I swear I'm a Rennlist Member, really I have a card and all

 

The sending unit on mine came off from the little cap on the top of the tank. This let gas flow in and out, and the float could easily change its indication level. I reattached the unit to the cap, cleaned the sender, and it works better, to the point where it's +/- 1 or 2 gallons.

 

mine also stays pegged to empty sometimes.

 

Second that on cleaning the electrical contacts at the sending unit. On my 924S the contacts were really oxidized and cleaning them corrected the gauge reading.

 

I would also try redline fuel system cleaner. that fixed similar gauge problems on my old mercedes.

 

This may be a stupid question, but how do you know how many gallons were left? I'm wondering because my gauge also does not go all the way up when the gas pump stops pumping...and I don't know if there's no gas in it when it reads E. Thanks!

 

just subtract the amount of gas you put into the tank and the capacity of the tank. Somone else might help u out with what that capacity might be i dont know it off hand for the 944

 

oh, that goes by filling it when it hits E & light comes on, right? (I don't usually let it get down that far because I don't trust the gauge.) IIRC, the manual does say what the tank capacity is, but it also says something about a couple of "reserve" gallons. Where do those fit into the calculations?

 

Mine isn't as bad as going "schitzo," but whenever I fill her up, she reads 3/4. It will stay there for over 100 miles then start to go down. Funny story:
My friend's 1970 VW bus has a musical gas gauge. It jumps up and down with music on! it is fine other wise.

 

Well, I went out and cleaned my contacts on the sender, it took 2 minutes and now it works great, I even have more gas then I thought I had in there. WooHoo!!! Bonus!!

Tom
'84 944
I am a Rennlist Member I am I am

 

I have the same issue as many of you have said. When i fill my tank it never goes above 3/4s of a tank. i tend to get around 325-350 miles before i refuel and have never seen the gas light come on. I have just learned to be used to the gauge only going up to 3/4 as it seems to be a comon problem.

 

Mine gets to just below Full, gonna try cleaning the contacts on the sending unit! Thanks.

 

Allright... I'm an eletrical moron.... so, I have no idea how to test all of this stuff, BUT, I've always assumed the reason why MY gauge only goes to 3/4 tank when I fill mine up is b/c of the floater being dirty, etc... like the 2nd part in the above link to Clarkes Garage.... I just RE-read it all & am not sure about something... to anyone who has ever done this, OR, at least understands this... in his pictures, there are two tubes that connect... IF I REMOVE these tubes, like he says to do(?) HOW do I keep from getting fuel everywhere, or, is this a stupid question....? Also, the cap that is underneath that reveals the three brass-looking prongs... I couldn't get mine off the last time I got in there to check this- I didn't know it was Clarkes Garage that had this how-to, but, remembered it from years ago, so, I just got in there to check... anyway, Does one just PRY that little square plastic cap off, or, what....? Is there a release...? I always end up doing stuff like this w/out asking PITA questions like these & then I BREAK something, so, THIS time, I'm asking, now matter how stupid it sounds...

thanks...