Faulty fuel sending unit?

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  • e30kawi
    Member
    • Feb 2013
    • 75

    #1

    Faulty fuel sending unit?

    I finally had enough of my fuel gauge dancing back and forth and bought a new sending unit for the left (drivers) side of the tank. I thought it would be a straight forward part swap, but now the needle won't move from the dead position. No dancing no nothing now. It's a VDO unit, did I mess something up or can they come faulty from the factory?
  • jlevie
    R3V OG
    • Nov 2006
    • 13530

    #2
    The gauge sitting at the empty end says that there is an open or high resistance in the level sensor circuit. That can be in the cluster, the wiring, or in either sensor on this car as the left and right sensors are wired in series.
    The car makes it possible, but the driver makes it happen.
    Jim Levie, Huntsville, AL

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    • e30kawi
      Member
      • Feb 2013
      • 75

      #3
      Originally posted by jlevie
      The gauge sitting at the empty end says that there is an open or high resistance in the level sensor circuit. That can be in the cluster, the wiring, or in either sensor on this car as the left and right sensors are wired in series.
      I was hoping you would chime in on this one, so a new unit is showing no fuel but the old one was bouncing all the time. I guess what I'm asking is what the new unit is doing differently than the old one and anything I should specifically look for? I was getting about 7 DC volts between one wire to ground and nothing between the two ends.

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      • jlevie
        R3V OG
        • Nov 2006
        • 13530

        #4
        A level sensor will read ~59 ohms when right side up and ~0 ohms when upside side down. So it is easy to test the sensor when it isn't in the tank. On this car you may need to test bot sensors if the first looks okay.
        The car makes it possible, but the driver makes it happen.
        Jim Levie, Huntsville, AL

        Comment

        • FLG
          No R3VLimiter
          • Sep 2011
          • 3165

          #5
          Have you tightened the nut on the back of the cluster? Usually its the first point when the fuel gauge is bouncing. Most are easily fixed.
          -Build http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=295277

          Comment

          • e30kawi
            Member
            • Feb 2013
            • 75

            #6
            Originally posted by FLG
            Have you tightened the nut on the back of the cluster? Usually its the first point when the fuel gauge is bouncing. Most are easily fixed.
            It seemed tight when I had the cluster out. I guess I will have to poke around.

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