Re: Fuel gauge broken?! argh!

"clevere" wrote

Unfortunately, these are the problems that occur when you decide to save a buck and provide your own parts. If you have the tank dropped and the wiring checked, it's possible that you may find that they screwed something up......but they will use the wiring excuse until someone proves them wrong. And you know what? They may be right, you may have supplied them with a bum wiring connector and now you have to live with the consequences.

Personally, I wouldn't have allowed you to supply your own part, as then I couldn't provide any warranty for you.

Ian

The warranty was for the fuel pump itself .. it's better than fried wiring. I tested the circuit, and it's feeding information to and fro .. so it seems to be working... I'll be dropping the tank in a week or so after I get some of the full tank out ...

Bum wiring is cool, I'm cool with that... only they is NO reason why I wasn't informed that the gas gauge was working. It's one of those 'it should have been checked' thingies :P

"clevere" wrote

I agree, but probably the check was to look at the fuel gauge after the job was done and note that: "the fuel gauge isn't working, probably that used wiring harness the customer gave us."

Often a shop is not interested in checking out parts that have been supplied by a customer. The reason they want to sell you the new part is not so they make a bunch of money, but so that it's fixed right, and everything works and they don't have to worry about you back on their doorstep the next day.

Ian

And I understand that. But you would figure that if the harness was bum then the fuel pump itself wouldn't have worked .

"clevere" wrote

Well, no. Go back and have a look at the picture that you posted. The wiring harness on the left side has four wires. The purple and black go to the level sensor and the gray and black plug into the fuel pump. So if you had a problem in either the purple wire or the black ground circuit of the level sensor, this wouldn't necessarily mean that the fuel pump would not work.

Instead of dropping the tank, I'd be seeing what kind of resistance reading I'm getting when you probe the purple wire and ground wire side of the level sensor. You should be able to disconnect the wiring harness to the tank at a location back from the actual fuel pump/level sensor assembly.

I think that in your year of vehicle, you would looking for resistance readings between 0 and 90 ohms.

Ian

Yes but you need to remember that after 1977, all engineering was farmed out on a rotating basis to the primate barns of the the St. Louis, Bronx and San Diego Zoos. The chimps of your model year were on STRIKE

| > "clevere" wrote | >

| > > Bum wiring is cool, I'm cool with that... only they is NO reason why I | > > wasn't informed that the gas gauge was working. It's one of those 'it | > > should have been checked' thingies :P | >

| > I agree, but probably the check was to look at the fuel | > gauge after the job was done and note that: "the fuel | > gauge isn't working, probably that used wiring harness | > the customer gave us." | >

| > Often a shop is not interested in checking out parts | > that have been supplied by a customer. The reason | > they want to sell you the new part is not so they make | > a bunch of money, but so that it's fixed right, and everything | > works and they don't have to worry about you back on | > their doorstep the next day. | >

| > Ian | >

| >

| |

| > My cars in order. | > 1969 Dodge Dart sedan, 225 ci | > 1972 Plymouth Duster, 225 ci | > Dad will no longer fix Mopar sooo... | > 1966 Pontiac Tempest sedan, OHC 6 (DOA, never did much) | > 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle Deluxe, 230 ci | > 1982 Chevrolet Demonically Possesed Malibu Wagon (3.8L? V6) nice rims | > 1987 Ford Tempo GL sedan (2.3 HD) family car | > 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity sedan (2.8 FI) (victim of drunk driver) | > 1986 Pontiac 6000 sedan (base) (lovingly known as 'Bette', short for | > "Bettina Gayle" but getting on in years) | >

| > | | > "clevere" wrote | > | | >

| > | | > > Bum wiring is cool, I'm cool with that... only they is NO reason | why | > I | > | | > > wasn't informed that the gas gauge was working. It's one of those | > 'it | > | | > > should have been checked' thingies :P | > | | >

| > | | > I agree, but probably the check was to look at the fuel | > | | > gauge after the job was done and note that: "the fuel | > | | > gauge isn't working, probably that used wiring harness | > | | > the customer gave us." | > | | >

| > | | > Often a shop is not interested in checking out parts | > | | > that have been supplied by a customer. The reason | > | | > they want to sell you the new part is not so they make | > | | > a bunch of money, but so that it's fixed right, and everything | > | | > works and they don't have to worry about you back on | > | | > their doorstep the next day. | > | | >

| > | | > Ian | > | | >

| > | | >

| > | | | > | | | > | | > | | >

| >

| |

Here's one for you, take a half dead flashlight battery, and solder a couple jumper wires to it. Hook the battery up to wires that go * from * fuel sender to guage. [ I only go up to 1984, and don't know digital dashes ] The less than one volt of a half dead battery should peg the fuel guage, or put guage on dead empty if polarity is reversed.

Agreed - that was the method I used to track wiring for the Fiero's dash during the repower.

Nick.