Stuck Fuel Sender
Thread Starter
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 881
Likes: 12
From: Fremont, CA
Stuck Fuel Sender
Swapping the fuel sender sounds easy right..... NOT!
I've done a few searches and it appears this comes up occationally but there hasn't been a good comment of how or if they got the sender out.
The sender in my car won't go much more the 1" before it stops solid. Through mirros and flashlights I was able to see that the white plastic cup on the bottom of the sender appears to have sprung like a wall anchor in the fitting at the bottom of the tank.
Anyone have any tips on extracting the sender on an 86.5 auto without too much pain?
I've done a few searches and it appears this comes up occationally but there hasn't been a good comment of how or if they got the sender out.
The sender in my car won't go much more the 1" before it stops solid. Through mirros and flashlights I was able to see that the white plastic cup on the bottom of the sender appears to have sprung like a wall anchor in the fitting at the bottom of the tank.
Anyone have any tips on extracting the sender on an 86.5 auto without too much pain?
Vegas, Baby!
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 11,555
Likes: 395
From: far away
Paul, I just went through this about three weeks ago. I had to turn and twist mine to the left then back to the right. It will come out. They are very sturdy units. The aluminum tube that covers the float in my car was dented. I have no idea how that happened. But I used a long piece of 1 1/2 inch SCH 40 PVC pipe to remove the dent. The pipe's OD is the same size as the sender's aluminun tube ID. Believe it or not it was a perfect fit. I sprayed the pipe with WD 40 and worked the tube down till the dent was gone, and used a soft rubber mallet to smooth out the tube. Put the unit back together and its working again. I hope this helps. Good luck, Joe
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 191
Likes: 3
From: Austin
I just did mine on last weekend, and had the same issue, except for the part where my plastic cradle that holds the fuel sender in the bottom of the tank broke in half. You might want to do a lot of careful wiggling.
Thread Starter
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 881
Likes: 12
From: Fremont, CA
got it out. Used the turn wiggle wiggle, turn wiggle wiggle, PULL, repeat until POP! Now I have a working gas gauge! I'll fill it up tomorrow and see how accurate it is.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Intermediate
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
From: Louisiana
In case anyone else has this same problem, I found an easy way to get the sender out when it is stuck on the lid of the bowl at the bottom of the fuel tank without damaging it. I posted how i did it and attached some pictures in another thread. He's the link:
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...el-sender.html
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...el-sender.html
