Fuel Guage....ground Straps

[Brimore]

I have a wonky fuel guage. It is more than likely the sending unit. I have rebuilt the cluster already.

Now the guage is all over the map. If ai am dribving and slide it into nuetral I get ab accurate reading.

 

I hear a rumour that it could be a ground or ground strap doing this. Does anyone one know if this is true or possible?

 

Thanks

[txab]

Yes it's possible

[Brimore]

The only one that is visable is the one from the filler tube top mount to the frame. Not sure if that makes sense but who knows with grounds

[Diesail]

The fuel tank sender actually works on ground. It is a variable resistor (think dimmer switch) on a ground wire. So there are two wires going to the sender, one to ground and one to the gauge. If the connection to ground is no good then yes it will not give correct readings.

[redvett]

1996 and later OBD2 use the PCM for ground reference. There is no ground for the meter at the tank.

[ColoradoSkiCountry]

It would be nice if it were that simple, but I have a feeling your fuel level sensor inside the sender unit is bad. I was told years ago on here that it's the metal tabs on the sensor that go bad, very prone to malfunctions due to the crappy quality of metal they used. Only fix was to replace the unit which supposedly had upgraded metal on them that lasted longer.

[redvett]

Actually the problem was the sulfur in the gas that has since been reduced.

[ColoradoSkiCountry]

I stand corrected. That sounds like the answer I remember from 6 or 7 years ago on here back when I had my 99. I think though if I remember correctly the sulfur was causing the crappy metal in the fuel sensor thingies to wear out even quicker?