Gasoline meter

Today I saw that the odometer of my gasolinelevel was sort of stuck at the bottem. When I filled my tank to the max I saw the meter rising, but it seems that the meter deos go up but doesn't go down. Is this a commen problem? And what should I do about it?

Good chance there is a bad ground either on the tank sending unit or the related wiring.

Tom

The meter uses the same ground wire as the pump. You probably have a malfunctioning potentiometer in the tank. You can check it at the left rear wiring connector on the frame. It should read from 0 to 90 ohms. 0 is empty, and 90 is full. If it reads correctly, it could be a dirty connector. The gauge may even be bad, but I would check it from the potentiometer front. It could also be a ground issue at the cluster.

Thanks for the info guys. I've driven a lot with my car the past few days and I now can see that meter goed down a little bit, so it does work. However, I have the feeling that it isn't accurate and that the meter 'thinks' there's more gas in the tank than there actually is. How is this possible?

The gauge does not start to move until the tank is about 1/3 empty. A study was done, and people perceive the gas mileage is better if the gauge does not move exactly with the fuel level. Some of the gauges are poorly calibrated. There is not much you can do to "fix" the discrepancy.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

There is not much you can  do to "fix" the discrepancy.

Actually, you can easily fix it Fred. There is a forum member on the Impala forum who makes these little adjustable gizmo's. I'm guessing it's some kind of variable resistor, which has a thumb wheel to adjust the resistance; very small. It is put in the fuel gauge circuit and can move the gauge level. Takes all of 15 minutes to install, that's with a coffee break; costs $30. I did it to a Caprice I had about 12 years ago and just within the last month I did it to my wagon. Both had good results.

I will dig up the info, may take a couple of days, for the Chevy freak.

Tom

Hi Tom,
Thanks in advance! I'm very curious to know how that works.

Here you go Chevy freak: http://www.fuelgaugecalibrator.com/bbody/bbody.html

Tom

Many thanks Tom. I love this forum!

We're all in the same boat, glad to help.  I'm sure someone pointed that out to me at one time.

If you get one, let's us know the results.

Tom