Hi everyone need help solving another mystery on fuel needle.

suprafreak123

New Member
Oct 23, 2013
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Costa mesa
So i been tripping out on how much i fill every week.I pump $45 11 gallons and it over fills spilling all over the ground, but my needle reads 1/4 till empty could this be my sender?Also when i go to work and back it drops from full tank to half tank in one day and from half down it last me 4 more days.
 

suprafreak123

New Member
Oct 23, 2013
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Costa mesa
ok and to access the sender is through the hatch i n the trunk correct and if i need to replace would you happen to know the part number or can i just go to kragen.
 

supraguy@aol

Well-Known Member
Dec 30, 2005
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Atlanta
I don't believe you can access the sender through the trunk. You can only access the two harness plugs(pump and sender)through that panel.
Once that's done, you can remove the tank. Other things that need to be disconnected:

Fuel vent line
Fuel return line
Fuel feed line, either at- the connection to the fuel pump union, or(sometimes more easy), the union at the fuel filter
Two tank straps
Plastic fuel filler neck surround

Removing the small mud guard/ splash panel in passenger tire well makes it much easier to access these connections. I strongly suggest that you replace the fuel filter at the same time.
It's much easier when the tank is out.
 

Dan_Gyoba

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Aug 9, 2007
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No, you can pull the sender without dropping the tank. You can't pull the fuel pump without dropping the tank, though.

I had a similar issue to the OP in my '89. I repaired the sender. I also repaired a sender from an '87. It's a pretty simple device, usually not difficult to see what's wrong and fix it.
 

Chris_87_Turbo

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Nov 5, 2013
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Princeton, TX
I remember cleaning my sending unit on my old 300zx and I just cleaned it with a pink eraser when I had the same problem I have now. This car quite a few issues and needs quite a bit of TLC.

Chris
 

Dan_Gyoba

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Aug 9, 2007
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Fine. Cut/paste
Okay, so your fuel gauge doesn't work. Mine would read empty if I had more than a half a tank, then would read okay for the bottom half for a long time. Then it started getting worse, until it was reading empty all the time. The little orange light isn't enough warning all the time, so I decided to fix it.

First, pull the fuel sender. This is accessable from the hatch, under the circular plate on the right hand side of the floor. You should have something like this:
fuelsend1.jpg
At the red circles, there are tabs that hold the box together. Carefully unbend these tabs and open the sender unit. Inside you should see this:
fuelsend2.jpg
The wiper circled in red must contact with the coil behind it through the whole movement of the float arm. Usually all this will need is a simple bend to keep in contact. In the case of this unit here, there was also a problem with the wiper arm, in that it was no longer electrically connected to the wire. This is why I soldered in the red wire that connects directly to the wiper and the wire. In most cases, this should not be needed, but use a multimeter to check that this connection is working.

It's also a good idea to clean the contact area of the coil where the wiper touches it. It's probably been untouched for a couple of decades, and it can't hurt to clean it up and make sure that there's a good contact area.

Use your multimeter to test the terminals for continuity to the 2 contacts through the full sweep of the float arm before reinstalling.

The pictures are actually from a spare sender I salvaged from my parts car, which is why there's some extra wiring on the connector. (Made it easy to test with a multimeter) On this one, I had to make a new connection on the sender tot he arm, which is where I soldered on the red wire. I don't remember where that sender ended up, I think that someone is using it though.