A friend of mine has a 1982 Corvette and as of recently the gas gauge is not working properly. No matter how much gas is in the tank it always says there is about 1/8 of a tank. Im not really to sure where I should start in order to have it work properly.

Please advise

 

Did the car sit awhile? My 82 sat about 2 months and the gage acted up. I drove it a weak or 2 with some fuel cleaner in the tank and it started working again. If you have to replace it, it is about 250.00

 

I would check the connection at the sender first, make sure it has a good ground and a solid signal back to the guage.

You can test it with an ohmeter to see if it's working properly.

If it's fine, you'll need to start looking at the guage....

 

Is the sender right near/ on top of the gas tank?

 

Yes remove the gas door then the boot and there it is. The sending unit has a high failure rate.

 

The 82 has a plastic bladder that acts as a liner. The liner will distort at the rear of the car. When this happens the float arm is unable to rise due to the fact that the plastic bladder is obstructing the motion of the float arm.

How to check and fix this possible problem. You wil be removing the fuel pump and pickup/ float assembly from the car.

1. Disconnect the battery
2. Remove the fuel door from the car
3. Remove the rubber boot
4. To protect your paint do the following. Tape area around fuel
door with masking tape, about 2-3 inches around. Next use
some duct tape on top of the masking tape. Get some sheet
plastic and tape to duct tape. This will protect the paint as
the fuel pump unit is a tight fit to come out.
5. Mark hoses and wires or take a photo as this will help the
reassembly
6. Remove hoses and wires
7. Remove bolts that hold the fuel unit to the tank
8. Remove fuel unit from tank, may have to turn it slightly
9. Check unit by plugging the wires back, But not the hoses
10. reconnect battery
11. Turn key to on and while moving the float look through the
rear window to see if gas gauge is moving.
12. If the gauge is responding than the easiest fix is to exagerate
the bend in the middle of the rod for the float. This will
shorten it enough to clear the collapsed part of the liner
13. To test the float as it sits in the tank get about three feet
of fishing line and tie it to the end of the float. Bring the
end of the line through the fuel door opening. Use the fishing
line to raise and lower the float to make sure you have full
travel
14. Before you reinstall the fuel pump unit this may be a good
time to put a new pump and the filter on the end of the
pickup that is called a sock. Your local dealer is the best
place for this

I had this problem about five years ago. I hope this will fix your problem.
Steve

 

thats first place to check.

 

Looks like this....

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Start by unplupping the wire at tank unit-gage should go to full
Next ground the wire -gage should go to empty-if it doesnt go to ground then confirm you have a ground at tank-if you have a good ground then the tank unit is probably bad.
On E-Bay is a unit that sells for about $150-I installed one about a month ago that a customer brought in-it was not a direct bolt in.It looked good-nice and shiny but the bends in the tubing were wrong which created issues.Unit worked but was not a duplicate of factory unit.

 

where is the ground located for the sender and/or gas tank?

 

This thread had been dead for 18 years. Please start a new one with your questions.