Anybody got any ideas on how to?

My Odometer is at 197 miles right now, gauge is at a HALF TANK! No way I'm gonna get 400 miles from 1 tank of gas. I can't even break 225 miles, out of a full tank, much less 400!

200 miles from half a tank, 20 miles from the other half???

Anybody have any ideas on how to improve the accuracy of the gauge? I understand how bad/why the swing arm float style is bad, but THIS bad? Different float style available to swap in?

 

You can’t merely swap float mechanisms and fix the problem.

However you can use a microprocessor that compensates for the limitations of the float.

Using water for safety, and a tank and float the same type as in the car, pour one gallon at a time into the tank, and calibrate the microprocessor driver output to read accordingly.

In fact if you were to do this mod, you might as well replace the needle gage with a numerical.

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Happy Racing!

 

Nobody any any real, useful solutions? Is everyone OK with their bad gas gauges, except me?

 

oh i'm not happy with mine at all. once it left me stranded at school when it said i had about a quarter tank of gas

 

what makes these systems read so erratic for? I'm curious as I have the same problem and I hate it. would replacing the gas tank and the sending unit correct this or is this something that is bred into these older vehicles and if so, again why do they respond this way compared to the newer vechicles

 

If you think about hoe the float works, it makes sense why the gauge reads so bad.

Gas level moves straight up & down, whereas the float swings in an arc. So from directly horizontal, the reading doesn't change very much, because the float hasn't moved very far.

If we has a float that moved directly up & down vertically (like up & down on a pole) the reading would be much more accurate. I've seen one, but don't want to buy a whole new unit. My wallet won't allow it.

 

Can you give me the link or show me what this new unit looks like. I may be interested in picking one up if it corrects this horrible problem

 

I don't KNOW that this is fully compatible, just one that has been suggested to me, in the past.

I'm not even sure if the ohm range matches our cars (maybe they one that does?) and I can't afford to spend $ on "experiments", so I've never bought one to find out.


http://www.wemausa.com/tank_sensors/...nk_sensors.htm

 

Mine is bad too. By the way, how many gallon tank does a 86 camaro V6 have? I have thought and heard that they have 15 gallon tanks but when my gauge is in the orange, looking like the tank should be almost completely empty, I can only get 10 gallons or less in at the pump. I was beginning to wonder if it only had a 10 or 12 gallon tank. Is it really 15?

 

Yea i think a lot of the problems to do with our readings are as mentioned its a float which obviously dosnt move strait up and down but also the geometry of the tank itself. Because its not a square a change in 1" of level from a full tank is not the same amount of change as an empty tank. If kind of an interesting problem but i think its a problem that could be improved on. Right now im working on making some digital gauges to replace the factory gauges in my T/A and when I get working on the gas gauge I hope to be able to compensate for this non linearity and at the same time reduce the fluctuations in the readings. If i can come up with a circuit that does this well enough in theory it should also work the same for analog gauges with maybe a few tweaks. Even with this mod though i don't expect it to be accurate to the point where you could get a finite reading of how many gallons are in the tank at least not with any real degree of accuracy +/- a few gallons depending on how level the car was and stuff but at least it would be linearized.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirtDawg57

I was beginning to wonder if it only had a 10 or 12 gallon tank. Is it really 15?

Yes, 15&½ to be exact.

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Happy Racing!

 

Wow, thanks! So I guess that I have 5 and 1/2 gallons after it reaches the orange. Man, that gauge really is bad.