The gas gauge in my 1991 RS doesnt work does anyone know how i would go about fixing it? I have heard that if the sending unit in the fuel tank is bad you have to yank the tank to fix it. Is this true?

 

Yes, you have to remove the gas tank, and in doing that, remove everything in the way of it. The sender is one piece of the pickup assembly. If your fuel pump has never been replaced at all, it might be a good idea to go ahead and put in a good brand, high performance pump just so you won't have to go through all that again when the original goes kaput. That's assuming you have the money to do so, and definitely don't want to yank the tank twice.

 

for me both my sender and gauge was ****ed up O_o so I'm double screwed. I changed the sender...but the gauge is also broken. So now I Have to replace teh gauges also. (might as well get the Z28 ones)

 

Man that really sucks!!!! Thanks though guys. When you replaced your sending unit how much did it cost?

 

I think new ones from the dealer are somewhere in the $200+ range. Most ppl get junkyard ones, which sucks! If there was only a cheaper and better option.

 

Knowing how cheep GM is and dealers are, I am surprised there is not some way to rebuild our senders when they go bad. I would not think there all that complecated, the sender is just a potentiometer, (variable resistor for all you laymen). I bet if you worked on it you might be able to repair it.

Of course by the time you invest the time in removing the axel, then the exhaust, then the heat shields to get to the gastank, just to remove the fuel lines so droping the gastank is possible, you might as well replace it with a new one just in case...

As you can tell I have removed gastanks before, takes a good day to do...

BTW, drain your tank first into a gascan to make it lighter.

you can syphen it out, which is not all that effective, but you can get most of the gas. Or you can go the risky method, and remove the fuel lines, and let the gastank drain itself. mine autosyphened.

I think the next time I remove a gastank I am going to get about three 5 gallen gastanks, remove the fuse for the fuel pump, disconnect the high pressure line, then put one gastank under the line, so it drains into the gastank. have someone watch the level, once one tank is full, turn off ignition, put next gastank under hose and start over until the fuel tank on the car is empty.

John

just a thought...

 

NAPA or other autoparts stores probably carry the sender as well. Might try there and compair costs.