petrol guage woes

Larry came up with the following;:

Advise might be more forthcoming if the vehicle model was known. My S3 gauge was fine and needed a sender unit, Similarly my Disco has a bad sender/pump unit and needs replacing. However my mates Range Rover did need a gauge ....

It's very rare that the guages go wrong. From your description I'd venture that sender is the problem.

Richard

aye, all my landie fuel gauge problems have been the wiring or the sender. Gauge itself has always been fine. They are pretty erratic/creative even when theyre new.

The gauge's in my 2A all read high because i dont have a voltage regulator.

Larry - to test if the gauge and wiring works remove your seat and try earthing the wire that goes to the sender. The gauge should move all the way then. If you want to rule out the wiring you may have to fit a new wire to the back of the gauge and try earthing that.

You might have some success with the sender if you take it apart and clean the crud off the coil.

I personally never trust fuel gauges anyhow. I know pretty much how many miles i can get off a tank and fill up to the brim before i go that far! :)

My fuel gauge used to read erratically, just like yours, just replace the voltage regulator and everything goes back to normal again. Only costs a couple of quid.

Nigel

It would help if we knew what type of Landrover you are talking about. If it is a Series 2a/3 the problem may be the voltage stabiliser on the bulkhead on the S2a and the back of the speedo on the S3, or it may be a faulty earth to the stabiliser. If it is a 90/110, it will almost certainly be a faulty earth to the gauges if it involves both the temperature and fuel gauges. In either case, if it is the fuel gauge only it could be a faulty sender or the earth to the tank or sender, or a faulty earth between the engine and chassis, or possibly a wiring fault (either intermittent connection or short). It would be very rare for the gauge itself to be faulty, although anything is possible.

Richard I've never had the need to remove one but is it similar to the MGB unit which has the windings immersed in the fuel I replaced one which had rotted due to water getting through a lace top tank . Derek ( I really don't want to start a 110 project - but I'm having problems convincing myself )

Hello I had a simular problem to what you are discribing it ended up being my fuse was loose once i tightened it in its holder a bit more no more fuel guage problem also fixed my brake light problem as well as they must both use the same fuse well on mine anyway.Probably not a standard wiring job i would expect as seems to have been a bit rewired here and there from previous owner Brett

It's the same sort of thing - the usual failure is the wiper wearing out the windings and thus producing some "interesting" fuel levels.....

Richard

Read my sig, series 3.