so i have a 92 rs, which has been a constant problem if its not one thing its another. this week i had fixed all my problems and thought my car finally didnt need anymore work, wrong. i woke up today for work and my fuel gauge shot to past full, so ive been reading and a lot of people saying it can be a connection/grounds/or just a bad sending unit. any help would be appreciated this is my daily driver and my first car which ive had for 4 years and i love it but im at the point that i dont even want to deal with this anymore. money is a big problem i work pt and have to do all work my self with limited tools. i was doing a lot of grinding/sanding on panels this past week could it have shaken a ground loose causing the gauge to show past full?

 

Your car is 21 years old, and yes, it WILL be a "constant problem" from here forward.

Interest in dealing with these sorts of problems, and the ability to pay for what they cost, is a major issue. I got into older cars because it was all I could afford many years ago. I got out of them as soon as I could afford to not be in them for just the sentiment you have expressed.

Now that I'm a few years behind me, and I have a daily-driver that isn't a "constant issue," I am a bit more relaxed about dealing with the car that "always has something wrong with it."

Just the time-drain dealing with the multitude of issues can be daunting. And that's before you confront the $$$ costs, and the uncertainty about whether you know what you are doing when confronted with a particular task or issue.

With your fuel gauge, I suggest you first check all your connections for good continuity. A cheap multimeter should be adequate for this.

Make sure all the connections are tight, and free of corrosion. The car is 21 years old, if you find a corroded part, and you have the means to obtain a non-corroded replacement, there is no time like now to take care of that. Often, corrosion can be cleaned, and the existing part returned to service.

...or a disconnected wire can be re-connected.

 

alright i will be picking up a multimeter and checking all my connections and grounds, i really hope i dont need to fork out the 150+ for a new fuel unit

 

When mine quit, it was because I had rust in the fuel tank. After you check all your connections, you may want to drop the tank, replace the fuel pump, clean the sending unit carefully and wash the tank. This job can be done on a weekend. I took my tank to a car wash and blasted it clean. I put the tank out in the sunlight for a couple of hours and it was dry. For me, this was the single biggest improvement for dependability on my Z28.

 

Thanks for the info I will check that too, I didn't really want to have to pull down the whole tank and clean it out, like I said this is my daily driver and I have nothing else so if it's needed I'd have to do my best to finish all in one day

 

I hear ya bro! It took me two days by myself. If I had some help I could have it done in about 8 hours.

 

Ive recently been looking into the same problem for about 6 months now on my 87 Sports Coupe and as a matter of fact I barely got a good lead today so here's what I've learned.

Usually theres three major sections where the problem can reside, its either your fuel gauge, fuel sending unit or ground. A gauge thats pegged past the "F" indicates either a faulty ground or bad sending unit (in some cases I believe it can also be a stuck float which ties into the dirty tank scenario mentioned before)

The ground is not hard to find at all it is, it is under the rear driver side seat, to remove the seat its a single, 1/2 inch bolt I believe, that holds the seat in place. Remove that and the seat pops right out, under there is should be two folds of carpet that you move and its a single black wire, just picture it somewhat in the middle of where the seat used to be, its mounted kind of on a hump. I cant remember if you need to remove the back-rest portion but if you do its just a bolt towards the bottom right of the seat if you're looking straight at it. Once you find the wire move it around/clean it up and re-seat it like normal, the turn on the ignition only on the car. If the lever moves to a somewhat relevant location of fuel you think you have then of course it was the ground, if not then move on to the next step.


Jack up the car to just enough space to crawl under and look towards what would be the front of the gas tank, right about the rear end, in that spot you will see a connection coming from the tank going into the car, remove it and take notice to the slots where the black and pink wires from the tank go to. ( refer to the plug going to the tank if you have to) Take a paperclip or and random wire you have stripped and plug them together creating a loop.

Once you do that turn the ignition on and if you see your fuel gauge float from full to empty, then the wiring and ground from the tank to the gauge is fine, in other words the gauge is good (not so much a good thing because you either have to clean the tank or replace the sending unit)

If the gauge stays at full, then that means either the relay located in the engine bay on the driver side fire wall is faulty or the wiring.

Once you conclude if the gauge of sending unit is bad then take it from there, I owe pretty much all of this to the post right here

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...tuck-full.html

It might sound complicated but its pretty simple, to me the condition of ones car is a reflection of the owner and your ability to fix problems, kind of like kids. What do you do when you have a misbehaving kid, you fix it right? You don't just replace him or her with a new one, if keeping up with an old car is too much of a burden to anyone then it becomes that, a problem and not a hobby.