Trouble shoot for me please guys

[missmcudd]

Hey guys im having a problem and im going to use the excuse that im a girl and dont know how to fix it.

Recently my vp lx had problems with the fuel pump and the fuel pump was replaced. Everything was working great until

all of a sudden my fuel guage stopped reading properly.
when my car starts the fuel guage goes up to 3/4 full and then sticks there. When the car is off it goes back down to normal... its not actually stuck it still moves up and down but reads the same amount regardless of how much fuel i have in my car. So its annoying, my boyfriends cousin says its the cluster that needs to be changed but i think its not that its the thingy in the fuel tank thats stuck or bent or something when they changed the fuel pump.

I want it fixed! and no filling my car up and resetting the meter is not an option because i dont want to have to "work out" how much petty i have. I like to know exactly how much i have!

So what can i do?? Any thoughts on if i should just buy a new cluster and hope this fixes it or should i get someone to go and fix the meter thingy in the fuel tank?

[NORTI]

try slapping the top of the cluster, if this fixes it then its the solder on the back of the cluster, normally it sticks in the empty postion thou.

I would say off the top of my head that you are correct & the arm for the fuel float has been damaged.

[dmitch]

i would have 2 agree and say the arm has been damaged.. doesnt sound like the cluster

[VLDavo]

sounds like the arm is sticking when it gets to that certain point...try what norti said it ususaly helps..... or it could be the sender on the fuel tank thats buggered up

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

All gauges are pretty sensitive things, all it takes is a short in the wiring and they bugger up. Have you touched any of the dash since the pump was replaced? Sometimes if a wire gets shorted that leads to your cluster then this would damage the gauge. I had a car that had gauge issues and everytime I touched the tank sender or dash I needed to disconnect the battery and I never stuffed a gauge after that.
I tend to disagree with the float being damaged as this would have shown itself the instant the pump was changed, not a while after.
Disconnect the sender at the tank and see what happens to your gauge, it should go straight up to full as there is no resistance from the sender to bring it down. If it doesn't move then it's probably the gauge.

[missmcudd]

hmmm i have smacked the top of the cluster and it just stays in the same position will only go down when the car is turned off.
=( how much is it to get some mechanic to fix the arm thingy because the guys that changed the fuel pump said it might have been bent which is why its fkd now but they are too lazy to fix it (its my bfs cousins) so yeh i need someone to fix it

[PaRaDoX]

hmmm i have smacked the top of the cluster and it just stays in the same position will only go down when the car is turned off.
=( how much is it to get some mechanic to fix the arm thingy because the guys that changed the fuel pump said it might have been bent which is why its fkd now but they are too lazy to fix it (its my bfs cousins) so yeh i need someone to fix it

then smack it harder??? or smack your boyfriend and tell him to fix it :P

try borrowing a cluster, those things are piss easy to swap probbly a sticky gauge as when the cars off it SHOULDNT be displaying any fuel they'res your indication of a rooted gauge not sender, new cluster = $50? and if you dont have a tacho you can get one!

[stocky]

if its an lx then its a level 3 dash. are your digital readouts for fuel usage working?

[2greedy]

If it,s only happened since they changed the fuel pump i'd be inclined to say they have damaged the float arm or the little wires that the sender slides up and down il'l nearly bet my left .... thats what it is.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

If it,s only happened since they changed the fuel pump i'd be inclined to say they have damaged the float arm or the little wires that the sender slides up and down il'l nearly bet my left .... thats what it is.

If it happened straight away I would agree but it didn't so I would say it is something else like the gauge itself or a short in the dash somewhere.

[2greedy]

If it happened straight away I would agree but it didn't so I would say it is something else like the gauge itself or a short in the dash somewhere.

Yea ok i didn't realise that it didn't happen straight away but still it coould be worn and causing the prob?

Probably the first thing i would do is pull the sender out of the tank and check that it's not damaged at least that way you eliminate that end of the problem therefore it can then only be a bad conection somewhere or in the instrument cluster.

what is tending me to lean towards the tank sender is the fact that the gage is working! Now if it was a short or bad connection the gage would either go full scale or not read at all? just not showing true reading which makes me think something is wrong at the tank end?

you would nearly have to say that the float in the tank is stuck in 1 position? try getting under the car and bash on the tank near the sender and see if it alters at all? you may be lucky and it may free it?

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

If the gauge was subject to a short then the resistor may have melted causing the needle to jump to its current position. This has happened to me so thats why I'm suggesting a problem with the gauge. But by all means check everything, it could very well be the sender unit. Unplug it and see what the gauge does.

[14secvp]

maybe the new pump they put in the tank is jamming the guage sender in the tank holding it off the bottom or they bent something while they were in there my mates did this after he got the siphon hose tangled round his

[shaggerz]

Look at it this way... it could be the gauge, and it could be the sender in the tank. You won't know without replacing one of them.

[PaRaDoX]

dont resistors go pop ??? lol or maybe thats what happens if u cut them in half with sissors... at tafe we make LED's go bang by putting like 50A through them at like 12V

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

dont resistors go pop ??? lol or maybe thats what happens if u cut them in half with sissors... at tafe we make LED's go bang by putting like 50A through them at like 12V

The sender and the gauge are resistors. The float moves a needle up a coil of wires and as the needle gets to the top the wire in effect becomes shorter creating less resistance. This signal measured in ohms is sent to the gauge which has its own coil of wire that measures the resistance and sends its own needle along the coil in response to the resistance it measures.

[nathans1987]

dont resistors go pop ??? lol or maybe thats what happens if u cut them in half with sissors... at tafe we make LED's go bang by putting like 50A through them at like 12V

nah they just burn, cap's go pop some types do anyway.

[FXST01]

Stick your head under the car and look at where the fuel pump assembly is, there's a round plate which holds the piping ans wiring, and should have a flat edge upper most, like a circle with a flat top.