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faulty fuel guage

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faulty fuel guage
« on: May 18, 2008, 07:10:51 AM »
i have a 89 Suzuki Sport 4-door auto and my fuel  gauge has  been erratic & lately on a full tank it sits to almost empty. I am suspecting the sending unit ground, can someone tell me where the ground is located back there before i remove all my carpeting etc to look for the problem.
thank you.
luckey9

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Offline rascott

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Re: faulty fuel guage
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2008, 05:24:25 PM »
mabe not specific information, but the sending unit is on top the tank.
if you can unplug(i haven't gone out to look at mine) the wire to it, and ground it, the gauge should read full.
if so, then the problem is in the sender, which must mean dropping the tank.
haven't done that yet, myself.
i would start there.
richard
'89 kick w/little motor, still got pieces of jeff's pucks, stan's sticks into 4.24:1 tcase, 31x10.5x15's, rear lockrite, kick power steering, some radios(kj6esv), bmw seat, other changes just because. done on the cheap.
suzi the psychic gets me fishing.

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Offline Uncivilized

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Re: faulty fuel guage
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2008, 07:26:31 AM »
The wire more than likely broke off, or is barly hanging on by a strand. You will need to drop the tank to repair the connections. The connections are burried under a hard glue, so you will need to dig into them, and solder the wires back on.

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Offline john1974

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Re: faulty fuel guage
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2008, 10:18:16 AM »
And if its not that, its the sending unit itself.  pretty typical problem on trackers,sidekicks, samurais.
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Offline ben_unruh

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Re: faulty fuel guage
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2008, 08:21:06 PM »
how do I find & replace the sending unit? (same problem)

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Offline rascott

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Re: faulty fuel guage
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2008, 09:02:04 PM »
sender is on top of the fuel tank.
please note that i haven't done this on my kick.
i have done it on other vehicles(some can be more complicated and include fuel pump), and it usually requires dropping the tank, as in this case
before replacing the sender confirm that is your problem.
if you ground the sender wire the fuel gauge should read "full", remove ground= "empty".
the sender is a variable ground thing so you get different readings as float level changes.....
if your gauge always reads "full" then it's probably shorted to ground somewhere.
if it's always "empty" mabe it's disconnected somewhere.
if it's all over the place it could be several things, but probably at the sender.
mabe.
richard
'89 kick w/little motor, still got pieces of jeff's pucks, stan's sticks into 4.24:1 tcase, 31x10.5x15's, rear lockrite, kick power steering, some radios(kj6esv), bmw seat, other changes just because. done on the cheap.
suzi the psychic gets me fishing.

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Offline beercheck

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Re: faulty fuel guage
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2008, 06:31:28 AM »
There was a thread a few months ago where a couple people, instead of dropping the tank, cut an access hole in the floor above the tank.  When the time comes for me to mess with this stuff, that's definitely the route I'll be taking.  Give it some consideration.
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Offline rascott

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Re: faulty fuel guage
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2008, 09:41:33 AM »
beercheck
excellent idea, and one the manufacturer should have thought of. some do it(saab for one).
in my case it would be kinda a pia as i have built stowage back there, so it's disassemble one thing or another........
richard
'89 kick w/little motor, still got pieces of jeff's pucks, stan's sticks into 4.24:1 tcase, 31x10.5x15's, rear lockrite, kick power steering, some radios(kj6esv), bmw seat, other changes just because. done on the cheap.
suzi the psychic gets me fishing.