Gas guage don't work

[MorbidGTVert]

since i bought the car the fuel guage doesn't work. what i wanna know without taking it to a mechanic is how do i test it with out taking the tank off. this sucks going offthe trip meter at 100 miles i get paranoid and fill it up. i just wanna know if it is the guage or the setup in the tank any suggestions will be helpful

 

[jerry beach]

If your needle is pointing at full most all the time, like mine, It is the sender in the tank. I ohmed out my sender while I had the tank out of the car, and mine is trashed. It reads "open" in most positions. The cheapest I could find one was $80, so I didnt fix it. I just set my trip when I fill up and drive for about 200mi., at this point I have burned about 10 gallons, or 1/3 of a tank. The tank holds a little over 15 gallons, depending on who you ask.

 

[thompsonsd]

Man, you guys get good MPG's... I only get 10 mpg driving nice. Anyway, here's my experience with stock sending units and fuel pumps. When I hit around 160,000 miles my sending unit went out, then at around 185,000 miles my fuel pump went out. Then at about 187,000 miles my clutch cable snapped. After that I just tore everything apart and rebuilt it all.

 

[MorbidGTVert]

when the car is off key out the gauge says 1/4 full and when you stick the key in the ingition it goes strait to E. some guy at the junk yard said it was the gauge but he drives a camaro and it might be different.

 

[86Five-0]

I've had experiences in the cold weather were my gauge would stay at E right when I start the car up. I got out and pushed down on the rear of the car to bounce it around some and then the gauge started climbing. Maybe it could be stuck? Try bangin the tank with a rubber mallet a little bit. Right around the middle of the tank and see if the gauge moves around at all. $80 seems alot for a sender, When I replaced my fuel pump I was debating on whether or not I should change out the fuel sender but didn't. No problems so far(knock on wood).

 

[Black331Stang]

autometer fuel gauge. How do they hook up anyway? i know some have senders and some dont

 

[jerry beach]

If you take off the right rear wheel, you can access the electical plug for the tank without removing anything else. Unplug it and hook an ohm meter to the wires for the sender. If it reads "open" at anytime, the sender is junk. Only problem is you wont be able to move the float through its range to see if it works properly at all fuel levels. there are 2 wires going to it and 2 wires going to the pump through that plug. The sender wires should be pink/black and black. If not they will be yellow/white and black.