mytrplseven

My fuel gauge has been unreliable since I acquired the car a few years back. I pulled the sender out and wiped down all the wires on the long track and sprayed contact cleaner on everything to hopefully make it work. I bought a new rubber gasket (later sender version using a big plastic nut to reinstall) and re-inserted the assembly in the tank. Yesterday, after filling the tank once again, I smelled gasoline in the garage. I looked under the car and, sure enough, gas was dribbling on the garage floor.

After exposing the sender unit again, there was a puddle of gasoline around the top of assembly. I drained about a gallon of gas from the filler neck and then disconnected the battery, pulled the electrical connector and pulled the assembly out of the tank again. I remembered that the large plastic nut seemed to not turn smoothly when trying to tighten it. In retrospect I surmised that plastic nuts, when not lubricated, have a tendency to chatter and bind when tightening. I got some silicone grease and lubed the rubber seal, the top of the sender assembly and the threads on the nut and then reinstalled the whole thing. Magic. It went in smoothly and was able to confidently tighten the big plastic nut down and no leaks.

Just wanted to pass this technique and observations along to anyone wanting to remove and replace the sender on the later model cars. Unfortunately,in my case, the sender wasn't the problem and now it's back into the gauge cluster again.

StoogeMoe

Mine reads about a 1/4 tank low all the time now. It used to be accurate. Does Clarks Garage provide resistance values for the sender?

mytrplseven

I don't know about that but this is a common issue. I also noticed that a couple of the needles in my gauge cluster were too far down (towards bottom) on their shafts. I'm beginning to wonder if they have slipped on their shafts due to long term vibration, thus the inaccurate fuel gauge reading. Just spit-balling here, although when the tank is full, the upper sweep of the gauge needle isn't consistently in the exact same spot. Makes me wonder about the grounds and connections on the back of the gauge cluster. Well, I'll pull the cluster and compare the gas gauge needle position (key off) to what the owners manual shows. That's how I found the other two gauges were wrong.

FRporscheman

My gauge was dead until I took out the sender to clean it. After 1 cleaning, I got it working. After another cleaning, I got it working steadily / without cutting out. After the 3rd cleaning, it became accurate enough to be happy with.

Lots of cleaning, and adjusting/manipulating anything necessary to ensure good contact for the float.

Lubing the plastic nut is a good idea, thanks.

RajDatta

I need to perform the sender cleaner. What did you guys use for getting the cap loose?

FRporscheman

Hi Raj,

I use a large slip-joint plier (aka channel lock). I hold it vertical, and use one hand to hold the jaws on the nut, and the other hand to turn. I don't even squeeze the pliers, the jaws just grab the tabs on the nut.