Just figured I would share this, since I did this last night with good results.

I always had a problem with my fuel level gage dropping to zero and getting low fuel warnings on long trips. It would do it and it would get annoying watching the warning cycle on the dash, so this weekend, while I was doing a bunch of work, I decided to fix the problem. Those of you who have done the ignition switch repair will be familiar with this.

It's easy. Wait until the car is near empty, disconnect the battery and drop the lower tank shield on the passenger side. Loosen the 10mm nuts around the perimeter of the pump and drain the rest of the gas into a suitable container.

Pull the bolts out then pull out the pump enough to access the resistor board for the fuel level sender. You dont need to fully remove the pump assembly from the tank. You may have to disconnect your lines like I did (I put in a new racetronix). Using a small flatblade screwdriver, pop the float out of the swingarm, then carefully remove the swingarm from the resistor board.

At this point, clean your resistor board and the contacts on the bottom of the swingarm with very fine sandpaper, then blow clean with carb cleaner outside of the tank and reassemble. Easy

This fixed my problem, figured it might help somebody else out there too...you could see on mine the place where the board was dirty on the resistor pack correlated to where the gage would drop to zero. Doesnt do it now

I couldnt get pics, I was finishing a clutch/Z06 torque tube/RPM M12/fuel pump install and had to have it done by morning. But it is pretty easy and straightforward

 

I wonder if it will take a long time for the sulfur to eat into those nice, clean contacts? Good fix, I hope it lasts for you.

 

dhirocz,

Nice write up! Out of curiosity, did you try the Tectron treatment first?

Eric D

 

Am curious as well, to know whether you first tried two or three bottles of Techron Plus Concentrate. (Should use the larger bottle, good for up to 20 gallons, not the smaller, up to 12 gallon bottle.)

 

I tried techron, didnt do it for me. But mine has 175k miles on it too.

I didnt clean them THAT much, I removed all the filth and what looked like carbon from the contacts only. Very fine paper. They were pretty nasty

 

Techron has worked for me several times, but I don't have your miles. If/when the additive doesn't work, I'll give the sandpaper a go.
Dave

 

Good post! I may have to try that..


I can't remember how many times I've had the fuel gauge drop to empty but it was probably once a month (45k miles on the car). I've switched completely to Shell v-power and I haven't had the issue in 4000 miles. It's not a "fix" but I haven't had to purchase Techron for the last 4000 miles.

Before I tried:
BP
QT - local Quiktrip
Phillips

All three suffered the gauge going to empty.