Faulty Fuel Gauge Needle

Lapprentis · Post by **Lapprentis** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:12 am

So, recently, when filled up the Van, the Fuel Needle stay at the bottom (happend more than once) :( Will work again after a few cutoff/restart but will not get at the very top: somewhat to even above "F" mark like usual.... Any suggestions ? Thanks !

Lapprentis

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:01 am

One of the fuel level senders is faulty. They're a simple coil of resistive wire with a moving contact that moves up and down on the coil. One of mine started behaving strangely, I removed it and bent the contact slightly so it was rubbing on a different area of wire- it seems to be working ok so far.

ajd · Post by **ajd** » Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:45 pm

Funny this came up recently, because my gauge is also just died. Mine doesn't move at all when the van is running, stuck way at the bottom below the empty line. I dismantled the dash board and inspected the gauge itself, nothing looked super out of ordinary. I saw lots of delicate looking wires and metal bits that I didn't want to mess with, so put it all back together.

Growler, are the fuel level senders you speak of in the tanks or is this part of gauge itself? Dropping a fuel tank seems like a last resort. Should I be looking for an electrical issue? If so, where to begin.

north54 · Post by **north54** » Tue Nov 28, 2017 8:39 pm

I have the issue as well on my L300 and I know it is the sender in the tank. Once my gauge gets to just below 1/2 way mark it creeps down never to make it back up again until I add fuel. Makes for interesting road trips into a headwind when my fuel warning light comes on after doing 450km

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Wed Nov 29, 2017 1:07 pm

ajd wrote: Growler, are the fuel level senders you speak of in the tanks or is this part of gauge itself? Dropping a fuel tank seems like a last resort. Should I be looking for an electrical issue? If so, where to begin.

Here's a post I made earlier: http://www.delica.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=17225

The fuel level senders are in the tanks- look for the plate on the side of the tank held on with 3 nuts. Assuming you have a diesel with the twin tanks, you can see the rear tank's sender if you look through the left rear wheel well, and the front tank's sender is facing the transmission. I don't know if you can remove the senders with the tanks in place- the float inside is on a long arm, and it's tricky enough to remove with the tank on the floor.

The test would be to remove the senders, plug them in, and lift the float to various positions and see if the gauge responds. Because the senders are in series failure of one will stop the whole fuel gauge working.