Gas Tank Sender

[Agent 861]

Ever since I have had my car a brimming full tank has only registered as about 8 gallons on the fuel gauge . With help from previous posts I nailed it down to the tank sensor which I replaced today .

I found two things - first there is a small amount of fuel in the float which won’t be helping . But more significantly and as per the attached photo the float is orientated so the the end of the float sits higher than the top of the gauge at the top of travel ( ie full ) . So the float was hitting the top of the tank at 8 gallons and had no where else to go . Bizarre!!!

 

[HolyCat]

That is bizarre! How is the rod connected to the actual sender unit? Is it possible it can rotate, so that the float goes from being below the rod to above the rod?

 

[Agent 861]

Its a press fit but very very tight and not moving . The replacement sender seems to be working fine . What I will do is twist a 90 degree twist in the wire close to the float -realigning the vertical float horizontally and put it in my spares stash.

What amazes me is what previous owners will put up with -Its obviously been like this since the car was restored 30 years ago and sucessive owners have just put up with a fuel gauge that maxs out at 8 gallons when the tank is obviously brimming full . Other things I have found on the car were the soft top locating arms reversed right to left-How they latched up the soft top is a mystery . Also the door handles were swapped left and right so that the lift up lock covers were fall down covers !!

 

[michael-king]

Its a press fit but very very tight and not moving . The replacement sender seems to be working fine . What I will do is twist a 90 degree twist in the wire close to the float -realigning the vertical float horizontally and put it in my spares stash.

What amazes me is what previous owners will put up with -Its obviously been like this since the car was restored 30 years ago and sucessive owners have just put up with a fuel gauge that maxs out at 8 gallons when the tank is obviously brimming full . Other things I have found on the car were the soft top locating arms reversed right to left-How they latched up the soft top is a mystery . Also the door handles were swapped left and right so that the lift up lock covers were fall down covers !!

Well... It's the joys of classic ownership.... That said...I'd almost out money on the dash toggle switches are upside down... But that's as USA orientate house switches reverse to UK..( up should be off...down should be on)

Also a lot of USA cars seem to have the tail lights upside down.. they have the indicators at the bottom... Another 2 things to check.

 

[65beam]

Its a press fit but very very tight and not moving . The replacement sender seems to be working fine . What I will do is twist a 90 degree twist in the wire close to the float -realigning the vertical float horizontally and put it in my spares stash.

What amazes me is what previous owners will put up with -Its obviously been like this since the car was restored 30 years ago and sucessive owners have just put up with a fuel gauge that maxs out at 8 gallons when the tank is obviously brimming full . Other things I have found on the car were the soft top locating arms reversed right to left-How they latched up the soft top is a mystery . Also the door handles were swapped left and right so that the lift up lock covers were fall down covers !!

 

[65beam]

One suggestion I would make is to not fill the fuel tanks to full capacity due to the expansion of the fuel in hot temps. Hard driving will cause the gas to temporarily shift from tank to tank. There are ways for the gas to exit thru the gas cap. Gas can do a job on paint. I can also tell you the gauges weren't correct when the cars were fairly new. I learned that as a teenager in the mid 60's when I ran out of gas about 2:30 A.M. one day.