Gas gauge

[A83]

My gas guage  seems to be stuck on half a tank no matter how much gas is in the car. normally when it’s full it’s on 3/4 of a tank and when it gets near empty it’s around 1/4 of a tank I was living with that, but now it’s stuck.  I don’t know if it’s a fuse , the guage  or float in the tank.  Oddly once in awhile when I start the car Iit will go to full then back to 1/2. 
 

not a mechanic 

any advice would be appreciated

 

thank you 
 

 

[ronmanfredi]

More than likely, the sending unit is going bad.  Mine was doing the same thing and it was corroded badly. I removed the rear seat, removed the bolts holding the metal lines in place and was able to get the sender in and out.  While you are there, it's a good time to replace the 2 gas hoses that run from the tank, down to the metal lines at the right rear wheel well.  Just be sure to remove the lines off the tank FIRST so you don't risk a gravety feed of fuel all over the garage floor.  

[Gunslinger]

What he said^^^^. Classic symptom of a bad sending unit.  

[A83]

Thank you both very much I will proceed on that advice 

 

A83

[A83]

Did you purchase a new sending unit and from where?

[ronmanfredi]

Avanti Parts Biz.  SDI has them also.

[A83]

Update - I had a delay in getting a mechanic to put my sending unit in He finally did it 2 days ago and when I drove it home The gauge was Flipping between 1⁄2 to full and to 1⁄2  to full continuously I purchased the sending it from Avanti.Parts biz Could it be a faulty unit?

This is frustrating.

[ronmanfredi]

5 hours ago, A83 said:

Update - I had a delay in getting a mechanic to put my sending unit in He finally did it 2 days ago and when I drove it home The gauge was Flipping between 1⁄2 to full and to 1⁄2  to full continuously I purchased the sending it from Avanti.Parts biz Could it be a faulty unit?

This is frustrating.

The sending unit is mounted from the top of the tank and the float points sideways, so starts and stops shouldn't affect the gauge reading much at all.  It's possible the sender is bad, but the gauge or wiring may also be the problem.  The only way to know for sure, is to remove the sending unit, hook up an ohm meter to it and move the float up and down through its range.  It the readings are good, then the next place to go is the gauge and wiring connection.  The wiring runs from the sending unit, under the back seat and up to the dash.  The same ohm meter test could be run at the wiring where it connects to the gauge. (disconnected from the gauge).  If it checks out there, then the gauge has gone bad.  

[Mel]

Wide fluctuation sounds to me like a bad ground.  The first thing I'd try is running a separate ground to the gauge 'casing'.  There are two main wires leading to the gauge, one from the ignition and the other from the tank sending unit.  Good luck.

[A83]

Thank you. Will check it out