Fuel Gauge Bad - '99 Forester - Help

1st try some fuel-injector cleaner. There are some that specifically say they clean dirty fuel-guage senders.

Dave

Fuel gages rarely go bad, nor do the senders. Check the fuse. If it gets a bad seat or corrosion on the contacts, it could cause this problem. So can any other connection in the wire to the sender in the tank, so check any connections, even the ones on the gage in the instrument panel.

The fuel sender and the pump are two different items. The pump has nothing to do with the gage being erratic. The fuel sender is in the gas tank and the tank usually has to be dropped to get to it, so, it is a chore, but like I said, it rarely goes bad. It can be replaced A shaky fuse or just a bad fuse seat is a likely cause. The tank sending unit is relatively easy to check if you can get to the wire that goes to the sending unit near the tank someplace. Just short the end of the wire to ground, that goes to the fuel gage and the gage should read full all the time. If it doesn't, there is something wrong besides the sending unit. Anyway, whether you can check these things or not, yes the fuel sending unit can be replaced.

Thanks Bob Nobel and Dave for your prompt responses.

I had problems with my 94 Legacy fuel gage and started poking around behind the instrument panel with test light. I'm thinking that I toasted the illumination controller . Be carefull about grounding out stuff behind instrument cluster, if you get there from here. Good luck.

I agree with Dave. I used to have that problem on my '95 Legacy. If I bought Chevron gas, my gage would work. When I bought cheap gas it would be erratic. Now I buy good gas. A month ago, I filled my '67 VW with E85. The gage hadn't worked in years. I didn't know what E85 was. My car ran like crap but it cleaned the sending unit. Now my VW gage works great.

I used the best injector cleaner I could find (STP $4.98 12 oz.) Added a bottle two tank fills in a row. Gauge works like new.

Thanks for the injector suggestion.

A.J.