Fuel Sending Unit ?

[c10ls01]

2001 Silverado - If I start the truck in the morning, and leave it unattended for a few minutes, the gauge will read empty when I return to the truck a few minutes later. The INSTANT I open the drivers side door to get in, the gauge pings back to the normal reading. On rarer occasions, the gause will fluctuate on it's own while driving around as well. Kind of at a loss as to what to look at. I would be inclined to think it's a short in a harness, but has anyone else experienced this fluke and what was the root cause ?

[C & A s Dad]

David, there has been an issue with sulfur in fuel for some time affecting the fuel sensor in the tank which can make the gauge either read inaccurate and inconsistent such as yours or it can make it fail completly and read empty or full. Mine quti completely and went to empty. My GMC dealer replaced the sensor but it was not covered by my extended warranty.

 

Visit Chevron's website and you can find a great article concerning this. Their Techron product is now been reformulated to help reduce this problem. It states right on their label "Cleans and protects against sulfurs that can harm gas gauge sensors".

 

This may not be your problem and you may truly have a short but it certainly will not hurt a thing to run a couple of treatments of Techron through your truck.