79 Fuel gauge flutter
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 255
Likes: 24
From: Leander Texas
79 Fuel gauge flutter
The fuel gauge registers correctly the fuel level in the tank. However, it does flutter about a 1/4 tank distance. IOW, if it is full, it will flutter between 3/4 and full, if it is half, it flutters between 1/4 and 1/2. It happens whether the car is driven or not. I found that there are different failure causes for malfunctioning fuel gauges by searching the forum; my conclusion, in this particular case, that the fuel gauge itself is faulty - dampening fluid gone from the gauge causing this spastic flutter.... I pulled the trigger and ordered a new one. Will report back.
Racer
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 289
Likes: 32
The fuel gauge registers correctly the fuel level in the tank. However, it does flutter about a 1/4 tank distance. IOW, if it is full, it will flutter between 3/4 and full, if it is half, it flutters between 1/4 and 1/2. It happens whether the car is driven or not. I found that there are different failure causes for malfunctioning fuel gauges by searching the forum; my conclusion, in this particular case, that the fuel gauge itself is faulty - dampening fluid gone from the gauge causing this spastic flutter.... I pulled the trigger and ordered a new one. Will report back.
None of your gauges have any fluid in them to dampen their indicator needle movement. I suspect it's just a bad connection at the fuel level sender or at the gauge.
Former Vendor
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 76,656
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From: Jeffersonville Indiana 812-288-7103
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15
But the lack of dampening oil will not cause a gauge to flutter. I suspect you have an issue with your sending unit and the way to test this is to remove the ohms wire from the sender and see where the dash unit goes. If it's a gauge issue it will flutter just like when hooked up to the sender, if it's a sender unit issue it will go to full as shown below and stay. Grounding out the ohms wire should take the dash unit to empty as shown below... and again, if it's a dash unit issue it'll flutter and if it doesn't the issue is in the sending unit.
The inner workings of a dash gauge.
Last edited by Willcox Corvette; Nov 12, 2017 at 07:46 PM.
